Fixing the Past and Falling in Love (old, trying to make new name)
by SparkleHands
Summary: Brandon Hunter wanted to forget. As the only survivor of Morytha, he wanted a new life, one without the troubles of the old. However, the past has an odd habit of catching up. A new face. A small difference. Some things will stay the same. But even the smallest of changes can butterfly a massive effect.
1. Prologue: Origin Story

A young salvager, clad completely in bright blue gear, swam through the cloud sea. He spent a little too much time wondering at the sights underneath the clouds, understandable as it is one of his first solo salvaging operations. Hearing a ping come through his depth probe he refocuses on his task. He swims towards the crate he was after. Hooking it up to a floatation device, he sends it up to the surface. He was about to jump off the seabed to catch up to the crate when he catches a glimpse of something pure silver out of the corner of his eye. What was covered up before by the crate and dirt was now visible.

The object was large, larger than anything that the salvager had taken up before. It was a large metal cylinder that he could not fathom the purpose of. Deciding that his curiosity was worth more than his floatation devices, he quickly hooked up the cylinder as well and brought it up with him. He reached a hook that was dangling beneath the clouds. He hooked up the metal cylinder first then realized that he only had one hook. He looked at the crate regretfully and decides that whatever the metal cylinder was would be worth more and lets go of the crate.

The crane brought the cylinder and Rex onto the back of a small island, or rather, the back of a small titan. The titan turned his head backward in interest at the arrival of something new, a metal marvel that looked sleek unlike the majority of Alrest's clunky and rusting metal. Rex grabbed his crowbar starts inspecting the cylinder for any seams. It was like nothing he had ever seen before. A piece of metal that seemed to be for storage, after all why would it have been crafted to near perfection if it was just a chunk of metal to be used later, but there was nothing to indicate that it could be opened. There was no seam to it so he couldn't just pry it open with his crowbar. Seeing no reliable option, he takes off his gloves and starts to feel around. Suddenly, a green dot of light appears near the base of the cylinder.

"Human life detected, beginning decompression and defrosting sequence."

He jumped back at the sudden declaration of a mechanical voice. The light started to travel outwards in lines until it resembled a sort of rectangle on the side of the cylinder. That section suddenly hissed as steam flew out. A line cut across the middle of the rectangle as the rectangular section rose out of the cylinder. The rectangle split in half, opening up like some futuristic door. A groan was heard echoing from the small cylindrical life pod as a young teen was made visible as the last of the mist faded away, shocking both the young salvager and the old titan.

The young teen looked around in confusion as he stepped out of the pod. He stared at the salvager, perplexion on his face. The salvager looked up to the side. The young teen's view follows. He suddenly collapses in shock at the massive head staring back at him. He crawls backwards slowly in fear when the young salvager kneels down next to him, smile, and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Reassured, the young teen gets back to his feet shakily, this time regarding the titan in amazement. He then realizes something important. He looks back to the pod and presses his palm into a spot, causing another section to light up. He reels back in shock when seeing the information. He breaks down to his knees sobbing: thousands of years had passed in his cryostasis. His world was dead and only Alrest remained.

 **Hey, what's up guys, first time writer here! Please don't judge too hard, still in high school so the writing is definitely sub par. It's just that this idea has been bouncing around in my head so hard if I don't get it out my head feels like it's going to explode. No other video game, movie, T.V. show, or book has ever made me itch to write like this one: Xenoblade Chronicles 2, has. There is just so much more that can be done with the game, plot and character wise at least. I wish that Monolith Soft was more willing to do more than spiritual successors but alas! That's why I'm stepping in here today, to give a take on the story if a character was injected in. Not a self-insert, the character will have little in common with my personality or reactions, though a little might bleed through. Also be prepared for much more Nia, personal favorite character, just slightly above Morag and Zeke. I felt that while the Burdened No Longer cutscenes was one of the best in the game, as well as one of the most emotionally impactful, it just isn't explored more than that. I feel like that one little post game dialogue between Rex and Nia isn't enough.**

Edit: This is the start of my editing process. I want to make the story as good as possible so there are going to be some updates to the story here and there. They're not going to be plot changing but they'll fix grammar and some plot holes.


	2. Chapter 1: Chance Encounters

"Rex! Wait!" Brandon called out as the salvager in name, either not hearing him or ignoring him, dives into the cloud sea without even acknowledging Brandon's call.

"God damn it!" Brandon called out to the air in frustration. "One day he's going to get himself killed if he keeps on rushing out without me double checking his gear. Hell, the depth probe is off over 150 peds to the east!"

"Well, if you hadn't had Rex grow reliant on your old technological marvels that wouldn't be an issue now would it?" An elderly voice teased.

"Come on Gramps!" Brandon called, turning around to meet the eyes of the massive titan he was standing on.

"My "old technology" is more advanced than anything on Alrest, besides, it's not like reliance made him hot headed."

"Hm" Gramps chuckled back in response "True enough I suppose, although one could say one of your funny sayings: never look a gift horse in the mouth?"

"Yeah" Brandon sighed, "That's the one, although it sounds weird with your accent."

"Well I can hardly help not having your unique Morythan accent, though at times it does remind me of…"

"Remind you of what?"

"Ah, nothing, a story for another time."

"Hmph, you don't give up your secrets easily do you Gramps?"

"Let an old man have some memories to himself!"

Brandon simply chuckled in response. He turned to face the crane when he heard the motors turning. A salvager clad in blue rose out of the clouds with a crate underneath his feet. He lightly jumps off and lands, taking off his helmet while he does so.

"Ow!" Rex exclaims, surprised when he felt Brandon walk over to him and bonk his head.

"What was that for?"

"You didn't wait for my inspection!" Brandon replied, "The depth probe was off by 150 peds! If you hadn't gotten lucky with that crate we'd have no income for today, how do you have the patience to take two days on structural analysis but can't wait 2 minutes for a check up? If you were going to do that I could have just gone on a guild mission."

"Well it worked out in the end!" Rex responded indignantly. "Besides, this looks like it will turn a decent profit"

"What if it hadn't? What if your suit had ruptured? What if-"

"Dude, Chill out" Rex said

Brandon shuddered. "That accent with old slang does not feel right."

"Yeah, you've said that a million times" Rex rebuked as he grabbed the crowbar. "Hey, help me out with this will ya?"

Brandon grumbled and made his way over to help Rex. The two pried the crate open together and jumped back when a massive crustation came tumbling out.

"Agh!" Brandon exclaimed. "How did that even fit in there?"

"I dunno, but I do know what we're having for lunch now!" Rex said excitedly as he drew a short staff. He hit a button on the side and metal parts unfolded into a long sword. Brandon ran up and hit buttons on his gauntlets, activating glowing green energy blades that sprang up from his gauntlets as he took a fighting stance. The two charge at the massive crab and immediately start slashing. The oversized crustation attempted to fight back but was easily overpowered with both metal and energy slicing through its shell.

The two split up, Brandon went to sort through the items in the crate, Rex started chopping up the crab and started up a brazier.

"Ah - The brazier does my weary old bones much good" Gramps chimed in.

"Want me to move it Gramps?" Rex asked as he turned the crab piece over.

"No, that's quite all right. Leave it right there - a-ah…"

"Righto!" Rex hears a loud sound and turns to look at the side. He sees a massive titan rise out of the sea make one last dying sound, then sink back down into the sea.

"There goes another one." Brandon said, walking up to grab a piece of the crab. "That's the third one in the past month."

"Not another one, been happening too much lately" Rex groaned.

"Mh, more so than before" Gramps added.

"Hope no one was on that" Brandon said, taking a bite out of the crab.

"It seems not. And if there had been, they would have all left by now." Gramps responded.

Rex clenched a fist. "We'd better work harder to find something." Rex stated. "Elysium had better exist."

"No point in dwelling on it" Brandon said. "If only this cloud sea didn't exist…"

"All right! Back to making money!" Rex interjected "I think this haul should be enough for today. Oi, Gramps! Care for a little swim to the Argentum Trade Guild?" Rex asked.

"You're planning on selling it now? It's getting toward my bedtime…"

"Don't play the lazy old man with me. There's plenty of sunshine left!"

"Kids these days… No respect, I swear…"

Brandon burst out laughing as Gramps started swimming over to the Argentum trade guild. Gramps drifted over to the docks as Brandon finished off his explanation.

"So this button turns it on?" Rex asked.

"Yes" Brandon sighed, exasperated. "You know that symbol means power, you've been selling my stuff for years now, you think you would at least remember that!"

"I got this!" Rex responded. "Plus, I even remember that I need to get you a block of steel."

"Ugh, fine, just go" Brandon sighed. "I've got to finish this prototype up anyways."

"Why, if it isn't Rex! How's business?" A voice calls out

"Going alright, else I wouldn't be here." Rex responded

"Fair point. So which one am I unloading?"

"We can leave that until I'm done negotiating. Shouldn't be too long!"

"Well, mooring is 15 gold per half-day."

"I'll have your gold after I sell all the stuff, all right? Later!"

"Hey, hold on! You know I can't do credit… *sigh* He does it every time too…" He looked over at Gramps.

"No wallet I'm afraid"

"Of course-"

"Here!" a voice interrupted. Brandon walked over and flipped the guy a couple coins. "Good thing I'm here, i swear Rex is going to get himself beaten if he keeps this up." Brandon walked back to the small hut on Gramp's back. He steps inside and sits down at his small table and pulls out a large metal backpack looking contraption. He starts fiddling with it.

He hears shouting as he puts on finishing touches.

"Brandon! Brandon!" Rex called.

"What?" He asked annoyed as he stepped out of the hut.

"You want to earn 100 grand?"

"What?" Brandon asked confused

"I landed us a job, 200 grand! 100 now 100 after."

"Who the hell is offering that kind of money for a salvaging job?"

"I dunno, but it's enough to sustain us for years, or maybe months with the amount you spend on your inventions"

"Hey, don't insult my inventions, they've been our main source of profit for the past couple years. I could make that last infinitely. But seriously, what the hell? Who-?"

"Come on! It's from the chairman himself, what more do you need?"

"I don't know, seems kinda suspicious to me."

"Agreed, Rex you should have learned more before taking this job, you don't even know who your employer is!" Gramps interjected.

"Whatever, I'm off! You can take a nap while you wait!" Rex ran off ignoring the concerns of the two.

"Damnit, I swear to-" Brandon let out a sigh. "I'll go along with him, see if I can at least keep him out of trouble." Gramps grumbled in response.

"I suppose there's no talking him out of this, especially when he's probably already worked everything out, you'd better hurry up to catch him." Brandon, already heeding Gramps' advice, jogged to grab his gear and onto the docks.

He ran through the trade guild to where the salvager ships were located. Spotting a shock of blue among the dull colors, he ran up to Rex.

"The Maelstrom" He breathed as he slowed to a walk, "Bana sure has deep pockets." He paused as he saw a Gormotti girl walk up to Rex.

"Gawking at a boat? What are you, Twelve? Oh wait, maybe you are twelve." He heard her say.

He resumed walking up to the boat, "At least he can respect an awesome feat of engineering." The two jumped and turned around in surprise.

"Besides" He continued, "What has age got to do with anything? You look the same age as Rex, I'm only a year older and I've invented more devices than every engineer combined in the Argentum Trade Guild" He boasted. The girl gaped at him.

"Look who's gawking now!" Brandon laughed.

She was about to respond when a familiar voice sounded from the side.

"Rex, Brandon, we're heading out. There's no one seeing you off, right? Brandon, you got night watch. Until then, rest up inside."

"Aye aye!" The two responded in sync.

"Later." Brandon smirked at the Gormotti girl as he followed Rex inside.

Up on the watchtower, Brandon was looking at the cloud sea through his modified binoculars. He spots a black ship in the distance. "Wasn't that also at the Argentum harbor? Is it following us?" He mused to himself. Suddenly he hears a voice from behind him.

"Ugh, It's way too cold up here."

He spins around to see the Gormotti girl from earlier.

"You-"

"I'll have you know I've got a name. It's Nia."

"Well then, Nia, why are you up here?"

"They've started boozin' below decks. You should join 'em."

"Meh, don't like alcohol, got a distaste for it for some reason, don't know where i came from, besides, I'm not old enough to drink."

"What do you mean old enough?"

"Uh shoot." He mutters to himself. "I, uh, mean I don't think that I should drink at this age, inhibits brain development."

"Hm." Nia hummed, buying into his hasty response.

"Which is why I'm not a full time salvager, according to Rex a part of the code is literally drink like a fish."

"Ugh, sounds terrible, I don't think I'll be changing careers. But if you only do this part time, what's your other job?"

"I work two, one is for myself, I create stuff, sell off the useful stuff to improve lives, keep some of it for myself. The other official position is a guard. There are pirates out there, haven't encountered many, but enough to warrant hiring a guard or three." He chucked.

"Guard? But you aren't a driver?" Nia said disbelievingly.

"Yeah, among the things I make are weapons, I keep those to myself though to defend myself and Rex, no need to escalate the situation between Mor Ardain and Uraya."

"So then why did you and the kid-"

"We've also got names, mine's Brandon, the "kid" is Rex."

"Hmph, OK, Brandon, Why do you and Rex salvage anyways? Surely guard duty is more than enough to cover for both of you."

"First off I don't earn as much as a driver guard would, Huh, money's never been a problem for you eh?" He continued without waiting for a response, "I've got two reasons, first is to help Rex with his dream, the second is … a little more personal." He paused. "Urk, I've getting too emotional these days, OK, here's the story, I was found by Rex when he was salvaging."

"What do you mean found?" Nia interrupted.

"Sh! I was in a life pod, I was in stasis … or i guess a deep sleep. I have barely any memories of my life before what happened in the pod. Rex found my pod in the cloud sea, brought me up to the surface. We bonded pretty quickly after that."

"I … wow." Nia was left speechless.

"Yeah, what an origin story! That's why I salvage, to see if I can find something about my past. The other is over there." He pointed.

"The world tree? I don't get it."

"Well, we share a dream to help everyone, to make everyone happy, to get rid of war and violence, and what's the biggest conflict over right now? Land and resources, both of which are starting to run low. Legend has it that Elysium is waiting for us up there."

"Pff… Bwahaha! Seriously, kid? "Elysium"? Don't tell me you believe that guff! So that's, uh… why you're a salvager? It's just a lie for children, and that there is just an overgrown shrub!"

"Maybe you're right, but isn't that a dream worth fighting for? If it does exist, then surely the entrance is below the clouds. No need to fight over resources or land, no need for needless violence and conflict, isn't that worth searching for?"

"Well, no one can tell you what to believe but-"

He smirked, "I believe in helping people, do you?"

"Helping people huh…"

"Something wrong with that?"

"No … It's just that I thought that people were pretty selfish by nature … but you …"

He chuckled sheepishly.

"Where did you get those kinds of morals? Parents-? Uh, I guess that's a stupid question"

"It's alright, to be honest it probably was my parents, don't remember enoughenough though. Although Gramps sure did help with that development."

"The same Gramps that taught you and Rex arts?"

"Yeah- wait, how did you know about-"

"Uh, Rex gave us a demonstration earlier." Nia hastily responded, seeing a dangerous flash in Brandon's usually easy-going eyes.

"Is that so?" Brandon's eyebrows raised, "didn't tell me about it." He harrumphed as he crossed his arms and looked into the distance.

"You know, you're alright…" she said, "Not too different from me." she added under her breath. Brandon looks down at the sound of someone calling his name.

"We're heading out!" Rex called up.

"Alright, on my way!" He yelled back. The two walk into the main room of the Maelstrom. The salvaging team in full gear.

"Your target is located inside a shipwreck 450 peds straight down. Searching the wreck while submerged is too high-risk for our tastes, so… We'll be using floatation devices and cranes to lift the hull first. Next, you'll split into teams and explore the interior. Once the target is found, retrieval can commence. If that's clear, let's begin with attaching the floats. Get into position!" The head salvager ordered.

"We're paying you lowlifes a lot, so don't screw it up!" Brandon looked up to a familiar voice.

"Huh, and here I thought we were started to get along!" He joked, walking out to run final diagnostics on the floatation devices before the salvagers set out. The other salvagers took up position to dive. Brandon walked up to Rex and punched him lightly on the shoulder.

"See, one minute and it's done, not so bad was it?" He quipped.

"Har har." Rex responds.

"And … submerge!" The head salvager prompted. The salvagers all dove off of the ship into the murky clouds below. Brandon walked back over to the prow of the ship, watching for the eventual resurfacing of whatever the employers got them there for. He once again took off his backpack and started fiddling with the solid shell on the back. Time passes quickly as he works, leading him to jump up in surprise when a massive ship floats and bursts onto the surface. Even before a plank was put up connecting the boats, he vaulted over the side to greet Rex.

"Damn, this thing is massive, never seen any design like it before either." Brandon observed. The two look over to the sound of people crossing the plank. Immediately making eye contact with Brandon, Nia wandered over.

"Excellent work! You're not half bad, you know that?"

"This our job as you might recall" Brandon responded, "Besides, I just did the check ups, which are important, but Rex here did all of the heavy lifting." Suddenly the man clad in white walked up to the group. He pointed at Rex.

"You, with us." He stated and stalked off.

"You're gonna drag the kid along, seriously?"

"Guess he thinks you need all the help you can get." the black armored man mocked.

"Oi!"

He simply laughed in response.

"What an asshole." Brandon comments.

"Gr, well then?" She directs at Rex, "You've got your orders, come on!"

The pair walk away from Brandon before he called out. "Hey Nia?" She turns around, "Make sure to take care of my kid brother!" She nods in response as Rex calls indignantly "Kid? I'm only a year younger than you!"

Brandon laughed as he went to help the other salvagers start phase two when suddenly a massive creature burst through the double armored doors. He panicked and hit a switch on his backpack. Suddenly two flaps lifted up revealing short angled tubes that let loose a burst of flame as he rocketed toward the group. He accelerates forward but then suddenly stops himself as he sees that the drivers had already killed the beast. He sheepishly deactivates his jump pack as he awkwardly walks away.

"Amazing…" A group of salvagers start talking amongst themselves.

"So that's how Drivers and Blades fight…"

"So ruthless… It's like they're monsters themselves." Nia turned and glared at the group at that comment. The other two walk away and the third sheepishly rubs his head.

"Nice! I'm sure glad these Drivers are on our side! You too, Dromarch!" Rex exclaimed.

"No need to get hysterical, it was a walk in the park…" Nia responded responded cockily.

"Yeah, but still…"

"That's enough yapping, you pair of brats. Let's move!" The man in black armor yelled.

"Tch… Talk about self-important."

"Gramps always taught me to respect my elders…"

"Elders…?" The two burst out into laughter.

Brandon chuckled to himself after hearing Rex as he went off into a different part of the ship. He spent some time looking around but found nothing of value so he went back up to the surface to calibrate his jump pack. He spends some time adjusting the fuel input when he looks up to see the man in black armor and Nia emerge from the large set of double doors. He stands up and walks over with a smile.

"Hey Nia!" He calls, "Where's Rex?" She looks down but doesn't respond. Brandon started to increase his pace.

"Did you hear me? Where's Rex?" His tone becoming more and more desperate.

"Nia" He faintly hears the man say. "End them." Brandon stops in shock, unable to comprehend what was happening.

"End them? Like what?" She responds.

"The price for their lives has already been paid in full. Now that we have finally obtained the Aegis… The fewer living souls that know about it, the better."

"I-I can't do that, these people have done nothing wrong."

"I don't understand you. Now, now. Have you forgotten why you came here to begin with, Nia?"

"N-no but…" Nia responds.

By now Brandon has started shaking in rage, he pushes buttons on the metal bands on his wrists and they sprang into full sized gauntlets, fully covering his hands.

"Oh for the love of!, fine I'll do it myself." The man said as he started stalking over to Brandon. Brandon broke into a light jog while activating his energy blades. Suddenly the pod that the man was carrying burst into flames.

"Agh, what the?" He exclaimed as he threw the pod onto the ground. The pod exploded into brilliant flames as a figure burst out and arced over their heads. The figure landed and the flames went out, revealing a woman completely dressed in red with brilliant red hair. A yelling was heard from underneath the deck as a circle on the deck started heating up and glowing red. A figure exploded from the circle, ripping a hole in the deck as a figure in blue landed, panting.

"Rex!" Brandon called.

"It's kinda low to stab a man in the back… You bloody psychopath! Pyra!" He exclaimed.

"Here!"

"Cover me!"

"Got it!" she responded as Rex charged in. Brandon quickly activated his jump pack to join in the fray. The man in white reached to the sword on his back when the other man put out a hand.

"Jin, leave this to me."

Brandon's eyes narrowed as he rapidly closed the distance, his energy blades crossing with the man's tonfa sword. Rex runs up behind and swings at the man, only for him to push Brandon back and block Rex's attack.

"Sorry, kid. I can't let the likes of you just claim her power for yourself. This is as far as it goes."

"Tch" Brandon charged again only for the man to throw Rex to the side and kick Brandon's chest, winding him and knocking him away.

"Give it a rest Malos!" Nia exclaimed from the side, "Can't you see they're just children?"

"Children?" Malos replied, "Don't make me laugh, one has technology beyond anything I've seen and the other … Made himself the Aegis' Driver!" He yelled as he charged at Rex again. Brandon wheezed as he attempted to stand up but collapsed again. Seeing it, Nia ran over and helped him to his feet.

"Thanks" he muttered.

"Don't mention it, Dromarch!"

"Understood!" He responded as Nia jumped onto his back. Brandon quickly activated his jump pack to follow. Just as Malos was about to reach Rex, Dromarch jumped in front and blocked the attack.

"What are you doing Nia!" Malos yelled in rage, "Have you gone mad?" Brandon caught up and took a fighting stance next to Dromarch.

"You're the one who's off your nut, wailing on a child!"

"Nia… I don't think you quite comprehend your position."

"I get it, but-"

"You're starting to piss me off!"

"How are you starting to get pissed off?" Brandon quipped, "unless being regular pissed off is your natural state." He smirks. Malos simply growls in response.

"Sever!" He calls to his blade. Just as he was about to continue a battlecry interrupted him. Pyra yelled as she closed the distance, swinging her sword while sending jets of fire at Malos. Using the distraction, Brandon withdrew his energy blades and coated his gauntlets in electricity. He charged at Malos, striking his back and sent Malos flying with an electrically charged shock. He recovers, driving his sword into the deck to slow himself down. He looks at Jin who nods back. Suddenly a massive ship emerges from the darkness. Two large cannons emerge from the top of the ship and lock onto Pyra.

"Look out!" Brandon yells.

"Huh?-" She turns around and starts up a shield but just slightly too late as the cannons fired, knocking out her hastily set up shield and blasting her to the side. Rex ran over to help her up.

"Everyone!" Brandon yelled at the other salvagers, realising the danger "Get out of here!" The cannons refocus and target him. His eyes widen as he realises that he can't dodge in time and braces himself. When he doesn't feel any pain he looks up to see Nia and Dromarch protecting him from the blast. Their shields start flickering and suddenly give out. Nia and Dromarch are caught in the blast, flinging them in separate directions, Dromarch backwards on the ship and Nia off of it.

"Nia!" Brandon exclaimed and he jumped off after her. He quickly grabbed her and activated his jump pack. It propelled them up, then the fuel promptly cut out.

"Oh come on!" He complained as he barely managed to grab onto the ledge. The cannons were already targeting the two when suddenly fireballs rained down from the sky, rocking the ship and disabling a cannon.

"WOOO!" Brandon yelled. "Get em Gramps!" Gramps made another fireball pass. While Jin and Malos were distracted, Gramps flew over to Brandon.

"Get on!" He yelled. Brandon swung himself and Nia onto him while Rex and Pyra hopped on Dromarch who leaped to land on Gramps.

"Hold on to something!" He yelled as he started soaring away from the ship.

"Open fire!" Brandon heard Malos yell and the last thing he remembered was cannon fire striking Gramps.

 **Please leave a review, my writing's pretty bad so any** **CONSTRUCTIVE** **criticism would be appreciated.**


	3. Chapter 2: Tornan Terrorist

**Whoops, meant to have had this up yesterday, senioritis has kicked in hard. Enjoy!**

Brandon awoke with a groan. He simply lied where he was for a few seconds before sitting up. He looked around to spot Nia still unconscious. He gets to his feet unsteadily and stumbled over. He sat down heavily in the grass next to her and tried shaking her awake. She woke up after a couple seconds.

"Hey! Stop shaking me! I'm awake now!" She said crossly.

"Sorry." He mumbled in reply. "You all right?"

"I think so." she responded.

"Where are we anyways?" Brandon asked.

"Hm…" Nia thought for a moment, "Looks like we're in the Gormott providence of the Ardanian Empire."

"Oh shoot!" Brandon suddenly realized as he bolted to his feet, "Where's Gramps, Dromarch, Rex, Pyra!" He panicked.

"Hey! Hey! Calm down!" Nia waved her hands in front of his face, "Running around like a headless chicken will get us nowhere, yeah?"

Brandon paused for a moment and calmed down.

"Yeah, let's go." He said with grim determination and looked around for any clues. "Over there," he said spotting a trail of destruction, "Those toppled trees is probably the path Gramps cleared." Nia nodded and followed after Brandon. After traversing the forest they come across a massive form.

"Gramps!" Brandon called, rushing forward.

"It is good to see you uninjured." Gramps groaned.

"Hang on! If I can get to my lab I should have some medicine..."

"You are kind but no amount of human medicine would suffice."

Brandon gritted his teeth in frustration. "There has to be something…" He tried even while realizing that nothing would work.

"Weep not my boy. This is my fate."

"No." Brandon muttered disbelievingly,

"No parting is forever. We will surely meet again when the flow of the ether wills it… The days with you and Rex were the best I ever had. Until we meet again, Brandon… "

"No!" Brandon screamed as he watched part of his family disintegrate into light. He collapsed on the ground sobbing his heart out, slamming a fist into the earth beneath him. "Gramps!" Nia could only grimace as she moved closer to Brandon, putting her hand on his shoulder, in an attempt to comfort him. Something seemed to break in Brandon's head as he starts mumbling incoherently. Sensing that something was wrong Nia tries to shake Brandon out of his stupor. When she was unsuccessful she leaned down to hear, "It's my fault, I couldn't save him, If only I could have…" He trailed off, utterly defeated.

"Brandon?" a familiar voice suddenly sounded. No response.

"Brandon?" Nia looks around, confused as to why she could still hear Gramps' voice.

"Brandon!" The voice took an exasperated tone.

"Huh?" Brandon looked up to see a small white furry creature standing before him.

"What?" Nia and Brandon say in unison.

"Use your eyes, don't you recognize me?" The creature asked.

"Gramps?" Brandon's voice asked shakily.

"Of course!"

"But how?"

"Well, you see, by maximizing cellular regeneration to retain all vital bodily functions… I seem to have returned to a larval state."

"... Are … you … KIDDING ME?" Brandon yells in rage. "How could you do that to me? I thought you died! I thought I lost…" He lowers his head. "I thought I lost one of my family."

"Brandon I…" Gramps was at a loss for words. Brandon slowly stands up.

"I'm just glad you're okay Gramps," he said with a sigh. Let me grab some things from my lab and we'll be good to go." Brandon climbed up the hill of trees and wreckage to gain access to the small hut. Once inside he rummaged through, salvaging what he could of some tech. He climbed back out through what once was the entrance doors and jumped back onto the ground.

"Let's find Rex and Pyra," he said. The others nodded and they set off. Brandon kept on looking around, admiring the beauty of the forest of the Gormott titan. He was so distracted he ran right into Nia when she suddenly stopped in front of him.

"Do you hear that?" Nia asked, not acknowledging the apologetic Brandon. He stopped and listened.

"It sounds like… a fight is going on! It has to be Rex and Pyra! Let's get a move on!" The group started sprinting to the origin of the sound. As they came over the final hill they spot Rex, Pyra, and Dromarch engaging a giant frog. Without hesitation, Brandon activates his gauntlets and fires off a bolt of electricity stunning the frog. Surprised, Rex turns around to spot the pair.

"Brandon, Nia!" He calls out.

"My lady!" Dromarch and Nia rush over to each other while Brandon takes advantage of the distraction and runs up and punches the Brog with an electrically charged fist, knocking it away. Rex and Pyra quickly finish it off. Brandon breathed a sigh of relief. He walked up to Rex and the two fist bumped.

"Nice," Brandon commented, "you're getting the hang of this driver stuff quick."

"Thanks, though it's mostly Pyra here doing the work." He responded. Brandon nodded at Pyra. He then noticed a soft green glow emitting from Rex's chest area. He looked down to see a small green crystal X. He looked over to see that a chunk of Pyra's core crystal was missing in that exact shape.

"What happened down in that boat?" Brandon asked, "you said something like stabbed in the back?"

"Uh, yeah," Rex replied, "that guy, Jin, kinda stabbed me down there."

Brandon looked over at Pyra. "I'm assuming I have you to thank for Rex's speedy recovery?" She nodded in response. Brandon walked over and extended a hand and grinned.

"I don't think we've been formally introduced, I'm Brandon, the cats over there are Nia and Dromarch."

Pyra shook his hand in return. "My name is Pyra, nice to meet you," she smiled warmly.

"By the way, do you know where Gramps is?" Rex asked Brandon.

"About that…" Brandon rubbed the back of his head.

"Are you talking about me?" Gramps suddenly popped up, from behind Brandon.

"Gramps?" Rex exclaimed.

"Yeah, long story." Brandon said, "welp, we'd better get settled down somewhere, it's getting pretty dark." The group walked until they found a small clearing. Brandon gathered a bundle of sticks and set them up for Pyra to light. They all settled down for the night.

"Huh," Rex said, "Pretty handy to be a titan."

"This isn't something just any old titan can do. Only one as advanced as I can…"

"You don't have to boast about it," Brandon interrupted.

"Excuse me!" Gramps exclaimed indignantly, "I'd like less of that attitude."

"Well it's not my fault that we're in this mess," Brandon sniped back, shooting a glance at Rex.

"Okay, okay, I get it! I'm a terrible disappointment. Look how sorry I am!" Rex said sarcastically having noticed the glance.

"Can you not muster even a shred of sincere remorse?" Gramps asked.

"Sorry, but I can't."

"What?"

"If I hadn't taken the job, they'd have got their hands on Pyra."

"Rex…" Pyra seemed touched.

"I couldn't let that happen. No way. They can never take her."

"And why is that Rex?" Brandon smirked and gave Rex a knowing look.

"W-what? It's not like that…" Brandon burst into laughter.

"I'm just teasing, no need to get so worked up about it." The others chuckled at the two's antics.

"Welp, I'm beat, night," Brandon said, prepping a spot to sleep and almost instantly starts snoring. A little while later he wakes from hearing the distinct sound of talking. He rubs the bleariness from his eyes and looks around to find the source of the offending noise. His eyes finally come to rest on Gramps and Pyra, staring off into the distant forest. Rather than disturb the two he listens in closely.

"Well, that's good enough. I have no reason to doubt you, Pyra," he hears Gramps say.

"That said... I do have one other goal now."

"Jin and Malos." More a statement than a question.

" **I** cannot allow them to continue with their current course."

"The fate of an Aegis never changes…" Gramps sighs.

"Right…"

"And you're going to those two boys mixed up in this?"

Pyra gave no response.

"I'm not blaming you. No matter how hard you tried, those two would find some way to get involved," He paused, "I see half your Core is missing. Seems you've taken on quite a burden."

"Azurda, I…"

"Promise me you'll take care of the boys," he chuckled, "Although I doubt Brandon would need it."

"I will."

Spotting Gramps hovering back over to the makeshift camp, Brandon quickly closed his eyes and made the pretense of sleeping. His mind churned over what he had just heard. It had sounded like those two had known each other from before, with Pyra calling Gramps Azurda. It was a rare occasion to meet someone who knew Gramps as anything other than Gramps. Deciding to probe the two later, Brandon gives into his exhaustion and falls into a deep sleep.

Brandon awoke to something poking his face. He lazily swats it aside thinking that he was still dreaming. The poking only grew more incessant and finally roused Brandon.

"Hey! What the hell?" He jumped to his feet, arms flailing, and angrily looked around to see that he had knocked over Rex, who he assumed was the poker, and Nia smirking at him.

"Karma."

"God damn it-" He growled, "Rex, how many times have I told you not to wake me up like that?" Rex got to his feet rubbing his head.

"Too many to count, still worth it though," he chuckles sheepishly.

"Ugh, it's too early to deal with this," he stretches and yawns. "What's the plan?"

"Well we're on the Gormott titan, and judging by the forest, we're somewhere around it's belly."

"Wait Nia, your ears… are you Gormotti?" Rex asked. Brandon facepalmed.

"Well done genius, took you long enough," Nia snarked, "seems like Brandon hear realized it pretty quickly, anyway, If I'm correct, the largest city on Gormott, Torigoth, should be nearby, we should head there."

"After you then," Brandon gestures.

The group follows as Nia and Dromarch take the lead. After a long stretch of walking the finally reach a clearing overlooking the massive Gormott plains.

"Whoa," the non-Gormotti members of the party exclaimed. Nia let them admire the view for a few seconds before speaking.

"There's Torigoth over there," she said, "I'll get you to an Inn but after that… I'm afraid you're on your own."

"On our own?" Brandon said confused.

"I would have thought that you of all people would know why I can't be spotted with you."

"Because you're one of them? Nia-"

"Look, I might not have known them very long, but they're still my crew."

"Your crew? Even after they tried to kill us? You risked your life saving us from them and you want to go back?"

"That's as may be, but they're the closest thing I have to a family."

"Nia, you-"

"Right," she interrupted, "let's get a move on." She walked off, the others following. Brandon stood in the back for a moment before trailing along.

"So this is Torigoth!" Rex exclaimed as the group arrives in front of the arch.

"It hasn't changed a bit," Nia murmured.

"Nia, I-" Brandon tried to continue from before when Nia interrupted him again.

"It's nothing," she said, misinterpreting what Brandon was going to say, "I'll show you to an Inn then I'm out of here." She walked off again. Brandon sighed and followed along with the rest of the group. Near the entrance, the group walked past a series of wanted posters. They gave it no mind until something processed in Nia's head. She took a few steps backwards to see the wanted poster of her, but something was slightly off.

"What the bloody hell is is this?" She screeched. "Don't tell me this is meant to be me?"

Brandon walked over to see an… interesting version of Nia, one with Dromarch's face as her own. Dromarch walked over beside Nia.

"A remarkable likeness to say the least," he joked.

"Oi, did you say something?" Nia's eyes flashed dangerously. Brandon was struggling to hold in his laughter from behind.

"Ah, er, no," Dromarch stuttered, "I fear they may have conflated our countences, my lady."

"May have?" Brandon coughed out, just barely containing his laughter.

Angry welsh catgirl noises were made as Nia tore up her wanted poster before flinging the remains into the air. This was the breaking point as Brandon couldn't hold in his laughter and let out a loud, gut busting laugh. When he finally recovered from his laughing fit the group carried on as if nothing had happened. As they walked through the streets it seemed as if a crowd was forming. All of a sudden a loud voice cut through the general hubbub.

"Fie!" Brandon looked over to see an Ardanian soldier yelling his heart out. "Who has the courage to heed the Empire's call? Your strong heart today will build a strong Mor Ardain tomorrow! Of course, you get more than a salary! Pension and benefits are included! Distinguish yourself and you could even join the nobility! For the glory of the Ardainian Empire and His Majesty Emperor Niall! Come now! Who wants to be the hero of tomorrow?!"

"Hmm... What's the deal over there?" Rex looked to Nia.

"Driver recruitment."

"Driver recruitment?" He repeated dumbly.

"Recently, they've been recruiting Drivers from all over."

"The pool of potentials is ever shrinking. They must have run out of candidates in the military." Dromarch added.

"What do you mean by "potentials"? I'm not sure I follow."

Brandon facepalmed again. "Rex, I think you are the single cause if I ever get brain damage. I swear I'm going to have a permanent hand imprint in my face in a couple years."

Nia sighed, "Just see for yourself."

"Don't do it, bro, it's too dangerous!" Brandon turns at hearing a voice yell out.

"What will we do if something happens to you? Who'll look after us?"

"P-please…"

"I-I know it's dangerous. But if I can b-become a Driver…"

"Outta the way, pipsqueak!" A burly man interrupted, shoving past the group of kids. Brandon very nearly lost his cool at that.

"All right, c'mon Blade boyo!" The man exclaimed, "show me whatcha got!" He let out a heave of air as he grabbed the core crystal then almost immediately started screaming as he let out a sickly light.

"Yeah, he's done for." Nia commented.

"Indeed." Gramps agreed.

The Gormotti man continued yelling in pain as there was a sudden burst of light as the man's body froze and he collapsed lifeless onto the ground.

"Oho, all bark and no bite! What a shame!" The soldier exclaimed.

"Eurgh, what just happened? All that blood…" Rex looked like he might throw up.

"Couldn't handle the Core Crystal's power." Nia answered.

"That's what happens when someone unqualified touches a Core Crystal. Truly lamentable."

"Wait, you need a qualification to be a Driver?"

"Perhaps "aptitude" would be a better word."

"Aptitude?"

"Now, is there nobody else here… ready to test their strength for the glory of the Empire?!" He scanned the crowd then spotted the young Gormotti boy from before. "Oh! How about you? What say you? Step forwards, sir, with bold heart!"

"Noo!"

"Don't... Don't worry. Your big bro's gonna be a Driver, and then we'll be set for life."

"Don't do it!"

Ignoring his sibling's warnings, the boy walked up in front of the stand and reached out to grab the core crystal. He too immediately started yelling but something seemed different. The light flooding out was a gold color.

"There's your "aptitude"." Nia smiled.

"I...I did it!" The boy yelled in triumph and amazement.

"You did it!"

"I don't believe it!"

"Oh wow!"

"The Core Crystal turned into... a weapon?" Rex asked.

"That is how Blades are born, Rex." Gramps answered.

"What? But when I touched Pyra's…"

"She's a special case." Nia reminded Rex, "Pyra is the Aegis, remember? So the usual rules don't apply. All that business with sharing her life force... It's not exactly normal."

"Wait, what does "the Aegis" even mean?Jin and Malos... They called her that, too."

"Dunno. All I know is that it's some kinda legendary don't you just ask her yourself?" She paused. "Let's go. No point sticking around for the enrollment ceremony and all that boring stuff."

The group moved past the crowd into the more empty streets.

"This whole thing with Core Crystals, touching them to create Blades… It's pretty amazing when you think about it." Rex commented.

"We Blades start out formless, anchored to the world only by our Core Crystal. Only the touch of a potential can imbue us with form and being. And it is by those forms we come to be known." Pyra started explaining.

"So you see, my boy, in some ways it is only the fated touch of a Driver that allows the Blades to exist at all." Gramps finished.

"Wow... Why does it happen that way, though?"

"Now that is something no one knows. It's just how it's always been."

"Blades come in all shapes and sizes. Some human-shaped, some not." Dromarch said, adding in his own two cents.

"Some people say the shape depends on the kinda person the Driver is." Nia said.

"The resonance between Blade and Driver is a mysterious thing." Pyra added.

"So has there been no research into this of any kind?" Brandon asked.

"The praetorium has control over all of that," Nia said, a little bit of bitterness in her voice.

"Halt! Nobody move!" A voice suddenly called from behind.

"Oh dear... Looks like imperial troops." Gramps muttered.

"Thank you captain obvious." Brandon responded sarcastically.

"Great." Nia grunted.

"Hey, what's going on?" Rex naively asked.

"That fugitive in your company is an enemy of the state! A member of Torna!"

"Torna?" Brandon asked, "is that what that group was called?" He wondered out loud.

"It's her all right. Gormotti Driver, white beast-form Blade. She looks exactly like the wanted poster!"

Brandon very nearly gave into laughter at that. "What wanted poster?" He asked trying to keep a straight face.

"See for yourself!" The soldier unfurled a large sheet of paper exactly matching the previous one."

"I don't think my friend here has a face that looks like that, it's probably just a coincidence that-"

"Ha! Do you really expect me to believe that? That beast form blade there is a rare, one of a kind." The soldier looked over the rest of the group.

"And you!" He pointed at Rex.

"Me?"

"You look like a driver too, registration number?"

"Uh… 5, 3, 9?" He tried.

"Knock it off, you fool. All new Drivers must register with Indol! No number means you must be an illegal, unregistered Driver!"

"He just got his blade yesterday, we haven't had time to-"

"Shut it! You're coming with me! We'll see what the consul has to say about this!"

"Brandon, Dromarch and I are gonna make our move. Get ready to run."

"We're not leaving without you." He responded taking a fighting position.

"This is our problem, not yours."

"He messed with my family without listening to facts, that makes it my problem."

"Sheesh, you're a stubborn one, ain't you?"

"I just stick up for my family."

Nia nodded, "OK, we go on three. We'll go left, you go right."

"Just give the word!" Rex chimed in.

"OK, let's do this!" Nia said.

"Y-you're going to resist? Seriously?" The soldier stuttered, almost panicking.

"One...two…" Nia started counting.

"A-All right, men! We've got them outnumbered - move in and take them down!" He ordered.

"THREE!" Nia exclaimed as she charged the soldiers, Brandon and Rex following closely behind. The trio easily outmaneuvered the relatively incompetent soldiers. Brandon employed simple martial art techniques and easily overpowered his opponent before looking down in disgust.

"These guys are soldiers and they barely have any training."

"They're...so strong! Such strength from a measly three fighters... And one isn't even a driver!" The lead soldier stumbled back in fear.

"Now!" Nia exclaimed. The group followed her, sprinting to escape when suddenly a blue wall of fire sprung up, stopping them in their tracks.

"What now?" Brandon complained.

"Such a commotion." Brandon looks back to see the source of the soft voice, which was almost a relief compared to the screaming of the soldiers. He saw a woman completely clothed in blue and purple, brilliant blue hair with flames dancing on the ends. "Just when I thought I could enjoy a little peace and quiet."

"L-Lady Brighid!" The soldier said in fear.

"Damn it, a blade?" Brandon said.

"Wh-where's her Driver?" Rex wondered, looking around.

"My Driver is otherwise engaged at present. I am here alone."

"No...Driver?" Rex said confused.

"Ba ha ha!" The soldier laughed, "Lady Brighid is the "Jewel of Mor Ardain"! The strongest Blade in the Empire! Even alone, she's more than a match for you! Lady Brighid, these miscreants are terrorists working for Torna. Please lend me your power to bring them to justice!"

"We are not Torna damnit, if you would just listen, they tried to kill us too!" Brandon exclaimed.

"Torna?" He heard the blade wonder, clearly not paying attention to him. "That emerald Core Crystal... Could it really be true? Well, well. Captain Padraig, you are not to kill them. Take these ones in alive."

"Roger! Men, bring the you-know-what!" He ordered.

"Sir!" The two soldiers still standing responded and ran off.

Rex yelled as he sent off a wave of fire. Brighid simply waved her sword and blocked the attack.

"She repelled our attack?" Rex said surprised.

"She's so...strong." Pyra stuttered.

"And this is without a Driver…" Gramps commented.

"Stop yammering! Just get her!" Nia yelled jumping overhead to attack, Dromarch right behind her. Taking the initiative, Brandon also starts sprinting forward when he sees a glowing yellow projectile fly through the air.

"Nia!" He yells before seeing her become entangled in a net.

"This is an ether net!" the soldier boasted, "Let's see you use your precious Arts when you can't draw ether from the atmosphere!"

"Even Blades have weaknesses. This is one such weakness. Without the flow of ether, Blades are quite useless." Brighid explained.

"Yeah," Brandon said sarcastically, "It's the lack of ether and not the complete lack of movement."

"Nia! Dromarch!" Rex exclaimed worriedly.

"Get outta here, Rex! Save yourself!"

"I'm not gonna do that! I can't just leave you here!"

"You've got your own mission! Just move it!"

"Yeah, but-" Brandon tapped his shoulder.

"We're outmatched, we have to go." Brandon looked sadly at Rex.

"But-!"

"You won't escape." Brighid said raising another wall of fire.

"Ugh, dammit!" Rex yelled. Suddenly a projectile came flying through the fire, hitting and puncturing a pipe above the ardanians, spewing water all over them.

"Ugh, water?!" Brighid said.

"HA!" Brandon yelled, "I've got you now!" He exclaimed while blasting a bolt of electricity through the water. Rex and Pyra joining in as they grabbed the sword together.

"Burning sword!" The two exclaimed as they sent a wave of fire. The two elements mixed and landed with a massive explosion, giving the four the chance to escape.

"Don't let them escape! Get after them!" Brandon heard a soldier yell.

"That's right, Brandon…" Nia whispered, "Run, and never look back."

 **Well how was that? I freely admit that my writing skills are not the best so hopefully it improves over the course of this story. I am having fun though and I intend on adding more original content as the story progresses. I should update every Sunday but with some ideas bouncing around in my head It may be slightly longer update times. I do have a twitch where I stream mostly Starcraft 2 and I intend on doing more pc games and switch games if it takes off more. The link is twitch-.-tv-/-sparklehandss (just delete the dashes, fanfiction is touchy with links.**


	4. Chapter 3: Artificially Intelligent

"Damnit," Brandon choked out as he sprinted away, tears streaming down his face, "not again." He, Rex, and Pyra turned a corner when they heard a high pitched voice.

"Hey, hey! This way, friends, come this way! Tora help you escape!"

The group stopped to stare at the sudden Nopon.

"And we should trust you why?" Brandon asked skeptically.

Rex elbowed Brandon. "Look at what he's holding, he's obviously the one who saved us mr. oblivious, quickly, follow the Nopon!"

Brandon rubbed his head sheepishly as he followed Rex in through the hidden door.

"Thanks, you saved us. But I gotta ask...why?" Rex asked.

"No reason…" the Nopon said quickly.

"No reason?" Brandon raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry, that not true. Truth is, Tora not like those big bully soldiers. Was thinking to test out shiny new Boom Biter on big bullies… That's when Tora see friends running from them. Boom Biter missed and hit water pipe, but results not so bad, hey?"

"Oh, so you shot the pipe?"

"That right!"

"Nice aim," Brandon commented.

"And you're Tora. I'm Rex, this is Pyra, and the grump over there is Brandon."

"It's so lovely to meet you!" Pyra said.

"Good to meeting! Mehehe…"

"Huh?"

"Ah... Actually, Tora have other reason for save you."

"Which is?"

"Don't worry. Explain everything when get to house of Tora! This way!" The Nopon lead the way through the short tunnel and ramp down to Tora's home.

"You live down here?" Rex asked.

"This just back door. Front entrance over there."

"Makes sense…" Rex looked around, "Whoa! Is that the Cloud Sea down there? We're so high up!"

"Nice view, eh? Tora likes to just sit and watch Cloud Sea sometimes."

"You have a wonderful home." Pyra commented.

"Meheheh." Tora chuckled, "anyway, um... Rex-Rex…"

"...Rex-Rex?" Rex wondered.

"Rex-Rex." Tora agreed, "Tora explain other reason I help you. You see...Tora always wanted to make Driver friends."

"Huh! Interested in Drivers, are you?"

"But of course!" Tora exclaimed, "Tora think it amazing how Driver and Blade join spirits together to make big power! Tora really want to be sidekick of Rex-Rex!"

"Uh, you know my name is just Rex, right? One Rex, not two."

"What is point?"

"Well, nothing, I guess. It just sounds a bit different from what I'm used to."

"Doublename just show Tora's respect! Respect for great Driver! Rex-Rex should be proud!"

"I'm not sure I've earned all that yet…" Rex thought to himself, "Oh, all right. You can call me Rex-Rex if it makes you happy. But instead of all this sidekick stuff, can't we just be friends?"

"Really? Tora will be friend of Rex-Rex?! Hooray!"

"What a funny little guy." Rex said to himself.

"Uh guys," Brandon interjected, "not to interrupt the introductions, but we still have to save Nia."

"Right," Rex said, refocusing, "Hey, Tora! Do you know much about this town?"

"Huh?"

"You wouldn't happen to know where the army takes prisoners, would you?" Rex inquired.

"Wait," Pyra said, "Don't tell me you're planning on storming the prison?"

"What else did you expect at this point?" Brandon smirked.

"I thought you'd say that." Gramps sighed.

"Oh!" Tora came to a realization, "You talk about Driver and Blade who were with Rex-Rex before Tora's daring rescue?"

"Yeah." Rex said pointedly

"Mehmeh…" Tora thought for a moment, "Tora would have to ask around town for info like that. Before we do anything, time for food! All of today's running around make Tora hungry. Need food to help Rex-Rex!"

"I'm a little peckish too." Gramps supported.

"Can't we eat later?" Brandon whined. A sound filled the air.

"Haha! Stomach of Rex-Rex agrees, eat first, rescue later!"

Brandon gave rex a look, "I... I can't help it, can I?"

"Um, if it's all right with everyone, I could cook something?" Pyra pipped up.

"Pyra? I didn't know you could cook!" Rex exclaimed.

"Hehe, well as long as fire is involved, I can do almost anything! Fry, steam, grill - you name it." She snapped her fingers and a burst of flame sprung up from them.

"Whoa!"

"Alright Pyra, but only if I can help." Brandon stated. Everyone jumped in surprise. "Hey, just because I'm a guy doesn't mean I can't cook. Besides, Rex, you of all people should know I've got some special recipes up my sleeve."

Pyra nodded and so Brandon followed her into the kitchen. The group sees the two go to work and start talking amongst themselves. A little while later, Pyra and Brandon emerged with several plates full of food.

"Oh man! This is delicious!" Rex commented.

"Yum-yummy! So super very tasty!" Tora added.

"Simply exquisite! I haven't eaten this well in 120 years!" Gramps said.

"Glad you liked it!" Pyra said in relief, "It seems like I did OK... I was worried I'd have gotten a little rusty over the years."

"It didn't taste rusty at all! Uh, I mean…" Rex stuttered.

"Ha!" Brandon laughed, "mine would," he joked. "Seriously though, good to know that I'm still decent at making pizza."

"But Tora is curious. Pyra is fire-using Blade, yes?" Tora suddenly asked, "when Tora broke that water pipe, Pyra could still make fire!"

"Come to think of it, you're right. That Brighid, the imperial Blade… She used fire abilities just like Pyra, but the water seemed to douse much of her strength." Gramps noted.

"So...what are you saying?" Rex asked.

"This world full of elemental energy called ether, yes? Ether come in forms like fire, water and wind. While battling, Drivers and Blades both draw power from ether. But fire not good with water. Other Blade woman got splooshy with water, so fire powers all damp."

"But Pyra and I were able to use our powers with no problem." Rex said catching on quickly.

"Indeed. They were unaffected." Gramps confirmed.

"Why?" Tora asked.

"Um, well, my powers don't come from fire." Pyra tried to explain.

"Mehmeh?!" Tora exclaimed, "if powers not fire, why look like flames?"

"Th-that may be a little complicated to explain…" Pyra stuttered.

"Go on then?" Tora prompted, "Tora like complicated things a lot!"

"Ah, well, u-um, I, it…" Pyra stuttered.

Brandon sighed, stood up, and walked around to Pyra. "Tora, you're making her uncomfortable, she'll explain when she's ready." He said as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Meh…" Tora looked down apologetically.

"Everyone has things they'd rather not talk about. Right?" Rex said.

"I'm sorry. I'm sure I'll be able to tell you about it soon enough." Pyra apologized.

"Don't worry about it." Rex said, "right now, we need to think about how to rescue Nia."

"First, we go around town and find all information we can!" Tora suggested.

"Hmm," Gramps hummed while thinking, "yes, although I daresay that we're all wanted criminals by this point and Pyra sticks out like a sore thumb."

"I'm so sorry." Pyra apologize.

"Don't worry friends! Tora has an idea!" The Nopon spoke up.

"And what is this brilliant idea pray tell?" Brandon asked sarcastically.

"Tora show you!" The Nopon waddled over to a closet near the front, unfazed by the taunt. The group followed. Tora threw open the doors to the closet to reveal… a simple Gormotti outfit.

"How is that supposed to help…" Brandon wondered when suddenly his eyes lit up in realization. "Oh, I'm so stupid," he frowned and looked disappointed in himself, "a disguise, especially one like that would help out, sorry for doubting you Tora."

Tora simply nodded in acknowledgement. For a creature that could seem oblivious at times, Tora could be super insightful when he wanted.

"Alright then," Brandon rubbed his hands together, "I think we should split up, Tora'll go with Rex and Pyra, I'll head out to gather some materials, Gramps, you can follow either of us. Sound good?" Everyone nodded. "Alright then. Let's move out!"

The group all exited the house of Tora and crossed a series of bridges to the main area of Torigoth. They went up to the closest Gormotti they spotted.

"Hey, do you know anything about the girl that was captured by the military recently?" Rex asked.

"Yeah, thank goodness the Empire is here, I shudder to think what that criminal could have done if it weren't for the military. Heard she's going to be executed in a couple days. Good riddance if you ask me."

Brandon shot the unrealizing man a glare.

"Thanks," Rex responded, "let's go," he nodded to the rest of the group. Brandon stayed behind while the rest walked off.

"Hey, could I ask one more question?" He asked.

"Shoot," the Gormotti responded.

"Could you point me to the marketplace, it's my first time visiting here."

"Yeah," he pointed, "just follow the path down that way and you'll be there."

"Thanks," Brandon said as he walked off. He went through all the different shops, buying what materials he needed, gathering more information when he could. By the time he returned to Tora's house, the rest of the team had already gathered up, studying a map of Torigoth.

"-cuted... It doesn't bear thinking about!" He heard Pyra say as he walked in.

"Yeah, typical for an empire," Brandon looked pissed.

"But getting aboard that warship will be no mean feat. We're going to need an ironclad plan." Gramps stated.

"Army port is under heavy guard…" Tora added.

"I guess we'll just have to mount a full-on attack!" Rex joked.

"No, Rex! We can't put everyone in danger." Pyra said, oblivious to the joke.

"Sorry," he mumbled, "it was just a joke, sheesh."

"There!" Pyra exclaimed after studying the map, "This is one of the Grandarbor's roots, right?  
If this map is correct, it goes all the way from the quay to the hull of the warship. And here. It looks like some kind of cargo entrance. Could we sneak on that way?"

"Oh, right! No one'll spot us if we sneak in from below!" Rex realized.

"Security light around this entrance. At night, not even workers here." Tora added.

"Looks like this is our only option," Gramps said, setting the plan.

"Then it's a plan!"

"Mehehe." Tora chuckled.

"Tora?" Rex asked.

"Tora have something to show you." He said.

The walked over to a curtained area. Tora threw back the curtain to reveal his secret.

"What's this then...?" Rex asked.

"Nobody ever see this before," the Nopon responded proudly, "Secret of Tora! An artificial Blade!"

"An artificial Blade?" Pyra repeated.

"What?" Brandon asked, "like a robot with an AI? How?..." Brandon trailed off in amazement.

"Tora have always wanted to be Driver of Blade," Tora explained, "but Tora... Tora has no potential to awaken Core Crystal."

"How could you know that? Surely you just have to try, and-" a light dawned in Rex's eyes. "Ohhh. You did, didn't you?"

"Yes, one year ago, Tora applied to Driver recruitment man."

"Oh deary me." Gramps shook his head sadly.

"Oh Tora, you mean you...?" Pyra covered her mouth.

"It was bad. Tora had nosebleed for three days!"

"Just a...nosebleed?" Brandon asked incredulously.

"What you mean, "just"?! People die from loss of blood, you know?!" Tora exclaimed.

"I mean yeah, but a nosebleed?... Eh I guess people have died from weirder things." Brandon waved it off.

"Moving on...!" Tora said, trying to preserve some dignity.

"For a near-death experience, you're awfully casual about this…" Rex said.

"ANYWAY! Back to Tora's Blade. When complete, even no-potential Tora can be a Driver!"

"This is simply incredible. You built this Blade from scratch, Tora?" Gramps asked.

"Well, it was started by Grampypon and Dadapon," Tora admitted, "but Grampypon die, and Tora still not know where Dadapon go to…"

"I feel like an ass now." Brandon muttered.

"So Tora will finish Blade myself and become a Driver like always wanted!" Tora thought positively, "then Dadapon hear about Tora's success and come back home, yes?"

"Oh, Tora…" Pyra said, heart warming up to the strange Nopon.

"By the by, Tora, this Blade… As far as I can see, it looks complete. What is there left to do?" Gramps said.

"Mehehehe! All Tora have left to do is buy missing parts! But Tora have no money at all!"

"Nothing? At all?" Rex asked.

"Not even one gold…" Tora said sadly.

"So you're asking for a loan?" Rex crossed his arms.

"Uhh, not...loan, hehe. Um, closer to... generous...donation!" Tora stuttered.

"Just like a Nopon. Always shrewd when it comes to gold!" Gramps laughed.

"B-b-but if Tora completes artificial Blade, combat capabilities will be big help on mission!" Tora pointed out.

"True enough," Brandon said, "so how much do you need exactly?"

"Oh...no more than 60,000 gold...?" Tora asked hopefully.

"Sixty thousand?!" Rex jumped back in surprise, "D'you want a kidney as well?"

"Calm down, Rex. I think we owe Tora our help. If it's just money he needs, I may be able to assist." Pyra said.

"Assist? How, exactly?" Rex asked.

"Nothing illegal, I hope!" Gramps joked when Brandon chopped him out of the sky.

"I swear to god Gramps," Brandon growled.

Pyra fumbled around with an earring. Taking one off, she offered it to Rex "This is a natural crystal. It should fetch around 60,000."

Brandon sighed. "It's alright, wouldn't be right for you to sell that," he said. "If it's just a couple parts I could probably offer something."

"Really?" Tora exclaimed, "Brandon too kind!"

What exactly do you need?"

"Let's see, 3 Bion Connectors and Perfect Range Sensor!" Tora listed off.

"Alright let's get to work," Brandon said, rolling up his sleeves. The two engineers closed off the curtain, blocking the view for Rex, Pyra, and Gramps as sounds of metal grinding and sparks flying were heard.

"OK! All finished!" Tora called as he stepped out from behind the curtain.

"It's really complete?" Rex asked in awe.

"Yup," Brandon said, joining Tora.

"Very complete! Just need to apply energy charge to activate!" Tora finished.

"Tora, our friends' execution draws near. There's no time to lose. Make haste!" Gramps said.

"I know, I know! Okay artificial Blade, it's wakey-wakey time!" Tora called, turning to the command console.

"That won't do, Tora!" Pyra suddenly interrupted.

"W-what Tora do wrong?" He stuttered, confused.

"You can't keep calling her "artificial Blade"" She explained, "as her creator, the least you can do is give her a proper name."

"Oh, um, well… Actually, friends, Tora did think of name for her. Very good name."

"Nice. Then I guess there's no problem." Rex said.

"Well, why don't you introduce us, Tora?" Gramps added.

"Right away!" Tora said, turning back to the console once more, "now... Wakey-wakey!  
Tora's very own Blade! Poppi!" He exclaimed, throwing the switch. The house started shaking as the system booted up, drawing in lightning from the storm. Suddenly a bolt flew down from the sky and struck the lightning rod on the top of Tora's house.

"P-Poppi?" Tora asked tentatively, seeing that the electricity flow down from the ceiling.

"How may I be of service, Master?" Poppi exclaimed suddenly, springing to life and striking a cutesy pose.

"W-w-w-wait a minute!" Tora jumped in surprise, "Ooh! Forget you see that! Tora must change the settings! Khm…"

"The... settings?" Brandon said, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

"Th-this time should be OK…" Tora said hesitantly, "Second time go best! Powerrrr...on!"

The house rumbled again as the device drew in lighting for a second time. The house shook as lightning struck the device and sent a surge of power into the awaiting robot. With the needed power, the robot stood up straight to look over at the awaiting group.

"Greetings, Masterpon." She said finally.

"I...I did it!" Tora cried, "Tora's masterpiece! World's first artificial Blade...Poppi!"

"Whoa!" Rex said impressed.

"Incredible!" Pyra gasped.

"That is really quite something." Gramps crossed his arms.

"Hmph," Brandon grunted.

"Tora did good, huh? You impressed? Tora is a very big success?!" Tora asked, searching for approval.

"Absolutely! You're amazing, Tora!" Rex said.

"What was that from before?" Brandon asked, crossing his arms.

"Forget about it!" Tora waved his arm like appendages in the air, "that not Tora's fault! Th-that was, um…" He stopped and thought for a moment. "Grampypon! Grampypon Soosoo made settings! Yes, definitely Grampypon's fault!" He finally declared.

"Are you sure, Tora?" Pyra leaned over, narrowing her eyes.

"Y-yes, Grampypon...yes…" He said, losing his earlier confidence. He then noticed Brandon staring at a closet that was shaken open by the lightning from earlier.

"Mehmeh!" He uttered nervously, sweat pouring down his face.

"Well, let's not dwell on that." Pyra said, choosing to ignore the blatant perversion of the small Nopon. "Rex, Brandon! Let's go rescue Nia and Dromarch!"

"No time to lose!" Rex said, agreeing with Pyra.

"Mehmeh…" Tora sighed in relief.

"This isn't over," Brandon shot at Tora who immediately started sweating again.

"Anyway," Poppi said having witnessed the entire thing, "my name Poppi. Poppi try hard to make Masterpon proud." She stated simply.

"Alright then, time to move out." Brandon said, looking up from scrutinizing the Nopon.

 **A bit on the shorter side, but I wanted to get this out a little earlier to make up for the previous chapter. Plus I've got a math test soon and I've got to spend tomorrow studying for that. I can't wait for the summer where I can do what I want freely. Anyways, Tora and Poppi have joined the party! Hopefully Brandon gives him a break but that introduction left a distinctly bitter taste in my mouth. I ended up writing it in because it's Xenoblade, it likes it's anime tropes. The next chapter should be a bit more original, not too much, let's not get too crazy here. I also intend to start writing more stories based on games/movies/books that I like where I like to think what if? The list so far is:**

 **-Star Wars**

 **-Mass Effect**

 **-Minecraft**

 **-Ben 10 (maybe)**

 **Hope you guys will check out my stream and my gaming group's stream:**

 **www . twitch . tv / 1mindgamingsociety and**

 **www . twitch. tv / sparklehandss (just delete the spaces.)**

 **Please review, I would like to come back later and edit some grammar and dialogue so some constructive feedback would be nice.**


	5. Chapter 4: Imperial Bastards

"There is Titan warship!" Tora pointed out as the group strode through the city of Torigoth.

"Mmm. Quite the impressive Titan." Gramps commented, "another sign that Mor Ardain is readying once more for war with Uraya."

Brandon clenched his fists, "I've had enough empires for one lifetime," he muttered.

"Look!" Rex exclaimed, ignoring Brandon's griping, "that root goes right to the ship, just like Pyra said."

"Yes yes!" Tora said upon seeing the mentioned root.

"We should be able to climb down over here," Rex pointed, "let's go!"

"OK!" Pyra said in agreement.

The group scales down the wall that leads down to the root, often jumping off small ledges and using vines to their advantage. The group makes it down to the large extending root to underneath the titan warship.

"Looks pretty high," Rex commented, looking up at the cargo opening. "Gimme a moment." He said while fiddling with the contraption on his arm. He took aim and fired an anchor to attach to the top of the opening. He reels himself in, doing a little flip at the end onto the floor of the entrance.

"Pyra, you first," he said as he lowered his anchor to the ground below him. "I'll pull you up, so hold tight," he said with a confident smirk. Pyra looked at the anchor nervously and timidly steps onto the end of the anchor. With this action, Rex's smirk dissipates as he is caught off guard and nearly falls off the edge back onto the root.

"Gh... So...heavy!" He grunted, trying his best to pull up Pyra who weighed much more than the scrawny salvager.

"Wh-what did you say?!" Pyra exclaims in surprise as she steps off the anchor back onto the massive root.

Rex fell backwards after losing the counterweight that he was bracing against. "Yow…" He yelped in pain as he fell backwards. At this Brandon was so overcome with amusement, he couldn't help but laugh at Pyra's expense, who had at this point gone bright red and covered her face with shame.

"Now look here, Rex. You can't just go and call a lady heavy," Gramps repremandid.

"Ooh, Rex-Rex a little tactless…" Tora teased. Brandon gasped for breath like a fish out of water at that remark.

"Have you ever talked to a girl before?" Brandon taunted between his gasping.

"Sorry about that," Pyra apologized meekly from behind her hands, "I guess I was just surprised!"

"No no," Rex said quickly in an attempt to salvage the situation, "it's not your fault, I-"

"She heavier than Tora for sure!" Tora suddenly interrupted, destroying Rex's attempt. "But that just mean Pyra grown to impressive height!" Tora continued, "it is good thing! Pyra should be proud!"

Seeing the situation taking far to long, Poppi and Brandon give each other a look. They both activate their respective jump packs and fly up to the small entrance.

They both take positions next to Rex as Poppi shouts down, "Poppi pull Pyra up. Please grab again!"

Rex lowers his anchor again and both Poppi and Brandon take hold of the rope before Pyra stepped on again. Pyra grabbed on tightly to the anchor's rope as Poppi and Brandon start pulling. After a couple tugs Brandon realized that his strength was more of a hindrance and let go, letting Poppi take on the work.

He whistled, "I forgot you're a robot."

"Poppi artificial Blade," the extremely human like robot responded, "this is...noooo problem.  
Poppi could lift Gonzalez if necessary." Pyra's face flushed a deeper red at that comment. Brandon jumped back down onto the root, firing his own anchor to lower himself easily. He reeled his anchor back in, grabbed Tora, and fired his jump pack up to fly up to the entrance, although in this case it was more like flailing back to the entrance. Brandon nodded at Pyra after she clambered up to the entrance and the group continued on. The group snuck through the sprawling corridors of the massive titan warship.

"Terrible design," Brandon scoffed, "my designs were better than this," he muttered in disdain. He then immediately started humming the Mission Impossible theme. The others in the group stared at him strangely before choosing to ignore their teammate's strange behavior and simply moved on.

"Masterpon," Poppi suddenly said, "Poppi can feel there is a Blade in the vicinity."

"But how can Poppi tell that?" Tora asked in surprised.

"Unclear." Poppi responded truthfully, "Poppi feel other Blade like wave in air."

"How do you not even know about the functions of your own blade?" Brandon asked in bewilderment, "for someone who could code an AI you sure aren't that practical." He simply shook his head, "whatever, I'm willing to bet that's Dromarch that Poppi's detecting, let's hurry!" He exclaimed.

"Let's try opening up some of these doors!" Pyra exclaimed, aiming a hand at a door.

"Wait!" Brandon exclaimed, "you don't know what's-" he was cut off by the sound of a roaring fire bursting from Pyra's arm. The intensity of the flames made short work of the metal and melted right through. Brandon hears a roar of surprise from the other side of the door.

He sighed, "you don't know what's inside" he finished, shaking his head.

"Umm...I didn't hurt anyone, did I?" Pyra stammered after realizing what harm she could have caused.

"Everyone check your eyebrows!" Rex joked.

"I'm sorry! It's hard to judge the power sometimes…" Pyra apologized.

"Pyra! Rex! Brandon!" the beast type blade exclaimed in surprise.

"Dromarch! It's good to see you alive." Gramps commented.

"It very good!" Tora suddenly interjected, sticking his head into view.

"See, Masterpon?" Poppi shot Tora a smug look, "there was a Blade here."

"Master Titan," Dromarch greeted, "and... Forgive me, but who are they?" Dromarch looked in puzzlement at the new members of the party.

"We'll explain later, we don't have much time. Do you know where Nia is?" Brandon inquired, a little bit of desperation edging it's way into his voice.

"But of course," the blade responded, "we are in resonance after all. I feel her presence."

"Guide the way then," Brandon said gesturing.

"Indeed. This way!" The blade bounded off in search of his driver.

The group sprinted off in pursuit. They had all but given up on stealth at this point as the echoing corridors made sure that everyone in the vicinity had learned of their presence. They stopped behind a corner in front of more of the same looking prison doors.

"No doubt about it, that's the place!" Dromarch exclaimed, pointing his muzzle at the door that had two guards standing in front.

"Man, these guys are idiots," Brandon huffed, "did these guys seriously not use fake guards?" He sighed in annoyance, "this is stupidly easy," he scoffed as he chose to

"Who are you?" one of the guards exclaimed in surprise at the sight of Brandon.

"They're the terrorist's friends!" the other said worriedly.

Brandon simply smirked and activated the electrical field around his gauntlets.

While Brandon was beating up the guards outside the cell, Nia was sitting in the center, contemplating her life. Suddenly she hears two large objects collide with the door. She hears frantic talking outside the door when she sees the handle turn.

"Jin?" she gasps.

"Do I really look that much like that asshole?" Brandon quipped as he fully opened the door, "I thought with the outfit I had on I looked more like Malos."

"Brandon, you…" She stuttered in surprise. Brandon grinned in response and stepped to the side to allow Dromarch to walk in.

"My lady," he bowed his head, "apologies for my late arrival."

"Don't mention it." Nia said, still in disbelief, "I didn't think anyone was coming at all."

"As if we'd leave you!" Rex said stepping into the cell as well, "always help those who help you." That's the second rule of the Salvager's Code!"

Brandon offered his hand. "I believe in helping people," the stupid grin never left his face.

"Well, that's you all over, ain't it," Nia said as she took Brandon's extended hand.

"Rex-Rex!" Tora suddenly exclaimed, popping into view, "Tora has found escape route! Hurry hurry!"

"A Nopon?" Nia asked in confusion.

"He has been of some assistance." Dromarch said.

"Not in combat yet, which is what he promised," Brandon threw out a joke at Tora's expense.

"Uh," Nia said, still in bewilderment, "nice to meet ya."

"Well, I think we've overstayed our welcome here." Gramps said, bringing his head into view. "Time to get moving!" He said, Poppi and Pyra joining him. Nia's eyes widened at the sudden growth in their party size. Brandon nodded reassuringly at Nia and sprinted off after Tora, the Nopon in question having already started toward the exit.

The group came across a control room to a large set of doors that led to the outside world. Unfortunately for them the doors were locked and the consol was unpowered.

"You guys get some power going to this thing," Brandon instructed, "I'll hack the thing as soon as it goes active." The team nodded in response and rushed through a large set of double doors to the power generators. Nia, however, stayed behind.

Brandon looked over in surprise, "not going with the others?" He asked.

She shook her head, "why did you come back for me?" she asked, changing the subject.

"I mean it was the right thing to do. Besides, you're part-" he was suddenly interrupted by the sound of the console powering on.

"Of course I get interrupted when I get to that part of me speech," he grumbled, annoyed at being interrupted at the same part of his speech for the third time, and leaned over the console, fingers flying over the keys. The rest of the group rushes back into the control room as Brandon makes some finishing touches to his code and unlocked the door. He gave a satisfied grunt as he led the way through.

"Not much further to exit!" Tora exclaimed as they could see the daylight.

"Not so fast, my dear intruders." A voice suddenly cut through, the group stopping to look around for the source. "Letting a terrorist from Torna out of my grasp would make me look very bad indeed." A pompous looking man stepped through the exit door, followed by a massive blade. The man paused to hit a button on a controler. The doors behind him shut and the ship shuddered. He gave a long looking over the group. "Ah, that emerald Core Crystal!" He said, spotting his target "You must be the Aegis! Much as it pains me to admit it, it seems Mòrag was right on the money."

"You know who Pyra is?" Rex exclaimed, "are you trying to capture her too, you ratbag?"

"Now now, language." The man admonished, "but of course. The most powerful Blade in all of history, with the power to rend Alrest asunder? Only a fool would know of that power and not seek to claim it! And I am no fool! Therefore, I will claim her as my own! You cannot argue with such logic!" The man exclaimed.

"Flaw detected in final step of logic." Poppi said.

"Sorry, pal, but you've done all the capturing you're gonna do today." Nia said stepping forward.

"Such impertinence for a dirty terrorist." The man said arrogantly.

"Guys!" Brandon suddenly exclaimed in realization, "The ship! It's taking off. That's why it's shaking all of a sudden! He's just stalling!"

Brandon gritted his teeth. "I guess these Ardanians aren't as stupid as I thought they were."

"Obviously," said the man with a smug smile, "you can't climb the ranks as I have with stupidity, You're stuck on this ship, we're taking a little trip to Mor Ardain!"

"We'd better hurry!" Brandon exclaimed, "there's no way a ship of this size can get started that quickly, we still have time!" The team nodded and charged forward.

The man simply hid behind the giant of a blade, letting it take the initial attacks.

"That coward... He's just hiding behind his Blade!" Rex said in frustration.

"What? Does common sense elude you? A Blade can regenerate from any injury! Whereas if I die, my Blade will return to a useless core!"

"So it's OK to use them as a living shield?" Nia cried in outrage, "you weasel. Even if they can regenerate, that doesn't mean Blades don't feel pain!"

"Hahah, how cute. The fleabag thinks we should care about Blades' feelings." He jabbed, "Heeheehee, I wonder if YOU can feel pain!" He taunted.

"I've got a better question," Brandon said as he stepped forward, a look of disgust on his face, "do you bleed?" He suddenly activated his jump pack, attempting to rush around the behemoth blade. The blade, surprisingly quick for something of its size, lowered its weapon and let Brandon crash headfirst into it. Brandon was quickly knocked out, his unconscious body sliding across the ground.

The man let out a laugh, "big words for a small boy, Who's next?"

Rex responded by charging with the rest of the group. Tora drew in the large blade's attention as he continuously poked around it with his drill shield, Poppi being an immense distraction as she flew around, throwing in jabs when she could. Rex and Nia on the other hand followed Brandon's plan of attack, targeting the pathetic excuse of a driver. The driver in question took great pains to maneuver around his blade in an attempt to dodge both Nia and Rex, and doing an impressive job of it. Suddenly the massive blade went flying, revealing a panting Brandon, who, with the combined momentum of his jump pack and electrically charged gauntlets, was able to stun the blade. Without the tank of a blade serving as a distraction, the man backed up nervously.

"How...? A mangy fleabag and a bunch of stinking kids… My triumphant return...to Mor Ardain...with the Aegis…" The man stuttered in fear.

Brandon simply stepped forward and rapped his knuckles to the man's head, knocking him out.

"Out like a light." Gramps commented.

"That's what he gets for trying to execute Nia." Rex said proudly.

"What? He was trying to take me back to Mor Ardain." Her eyes widened in realization, "Rex, this is a trap!"

"Well obviously," Brandon deadpanned, "otherwise that man wouldn't have shown up when he did." The titan warship suddenly shook again.

"Shoot," Brandon said, "everyone, we've got to get these doors open, the ship feels like it's moving up!"

He and Poppi ran to the doors, winding up their fists and punched the door off its hinges onto the ground below.

"Everyone!" Brandon exclaimed, "jump!" Taking his own advice, Brandon jumped off first, rolling on the ground to disperse the impact. Poppi grabbed Tora and simply flew down to the ground while Rex grabbed Pyra and used his anchor to grappled his way down. Dromarch followed suit after Brandon and simply jumped off, Nia about to follow when suddenly, "Over there! Stop them!" Several Ardanian guards cried. Nia jumped but one of them managed to grab her leg at the last moment and pull her viciously back into the ship.

"No!" Brandon exclaimed, seeing the events take place, "I'm not losing you again!" He activated his jump pack and soared up. He reached out a hand just as his jump pack sputtered out. Nia also extended her arm. Brandon swung his hand, and caught Nia's. The sudden addition of Brandon's weight threw off the guard's grip and he let go. Brandon laughed in glee as he and Nia fell back down to the Titan. He fired his anchor, gripping onto the titan warship and lowered himself and Nia safely back onto the ground. He whooped in joy as he wrapped Nia in a bear hug who recoiled in surprise at first but then hugged the boy back.

"Let's get out of here," Brandon said as he let go.

The group sprinted towards the Torigoth arch. However the moment before they can clear it, blue flames suddenly wrap around them, cutting off their escape.

"These flames again!" Pyra's eyes widened.

"It's her!" Rex exclaimed.

"And with her Driver too, this time." Nia noted as a pair of silhouettes walked through the flames.

"That's Mòrag, the Flamebringer!" Dromarch said, recognising the figure as the silhouettes came into view.

"Mòrag?" Rex asked.

"Special Inquisitor Mòrag of Mor Ardain." Dromarch explained, "the most powerful Driver in the Empire... and wielder of Brighid, the most powerful Blade."

"Mòrag," Brandon growled, "the emperor's pet. Have you come to enforce more tyranny onto more people?" He asked in outrage.

"It looks like they were waiting for us." Pyra said.

"Yes indeed. I did feel like we got away a little too easily." Gramps agreed.

"I don't know why I expected Dughall to slow you down at all." Mòrag simply sighed, not even dignifying Brandon with a response.

"It was you, right?" Nia realized, "you're the one who spread the rumor that I was going to be executed, just to lure Brandon and the others here!"

"You catch on quickly," Mòrag smirked, "yes, you certainly proved useful. However-"

"Rex and Pyra are the real prize." Nia interrupted.

"Hah, not quite." Came the reply. "The emerald Core Crystal is the sign of the Aegis. If that Blade is indeed the Aegis... then there's something I must do."

"What do you mean?" Nia asked, puzzled.

"The power to sunder Alrest itself… I cannot allow that to happen again." She explained.

"Pyra...destroyed the world? Don't be so stupid!" Rex exclaimed.

Brandon facepalmed. "Rex, you need to get out into the world more, even I've caught glimpses of this story. The Aegis war, five hundred years ago. Although I thought it was little more than a fairy tale. There's no way a blade can sink three whole titans."

"Three Titans...destroyed?" Rex said in disbelief.

"That is naught but historical fact." She replied.

"I'm onto you!" Rex suddenly cried, "you want to use Pyra as some kinda weapon! We're not gonna let you do that!"

"That is precisely the kind of scenario that I mean to prevent." Mòrag contradicted.

"And what if we resist?" Brandon asked.

"Then I will have to restrain you by force."

"In that case," Rex said, "I'll make this nice and clear. You. Will. Never! Take her!"

"Hah. Then let's see if you have the strength to back up those words, boy!" She said confidently as she pointed a whiplike sword at them.

Brandon smirked as he powered up his gauntlets, the rest of his team following suit, Rex drawing Pyra's blade, Tora springing out the drill, and Nia drawing her twin rings.

Rex started off the fight with a burst of flame, "What-?!" He said in surprise as Mòrag simply lifted a sword to block.

"Stubborn child. Why don't you just give it up?"

"Grrraaa!" Rex yelled, "you'll never get Pyra! She's more than just the "Aegis" or some kinda weapon! She's a living being! Pyra has somewhere she needs to go. And I'm gonna help her. I'm not gonna let you stand in her way!" He charged at the special inquisitor.

"This is getting tiresome." She said as she blocked Rex's clumsy swings with simple and elegant movement. "The power of the Aegis is formidable, but the Driver's skill betrays her…" She insulted.

"Stay vigilant, Mòrag. An unknown power lurks within this foe." Brighid warned.

"But of course." She replied, "this Blade he calls Pyra... Your flames burn far stronger than hers.  
But...her flames hide something deeper." She glared in concentration at the blade in question when Brandon suddenly burst forward, nearly catching Mòrag off guard. She positioned her sword to block the gauntlet that was heading toward her face, wincing as a small electric charge arced down the sword into her arm. Brandon smirked at the slight sign of weakness and pressed his advantage, swinging his other electrically charged gauntlet at the inquisitor. Having learned her lesson, she dodges backwards to avoid the blow rather than block. Taking advantage of the range, Brandon fires a short range electrical blast. Mòrag's eyes widen in shock. Thinking quickly, she blocks the incoming blast with her sword as she drove it into the ground, grounding the electricity and negating the attack.

Brandon's eyes widen, "never seen anyone do that before," he said trying to process what had just happened. "Looks like the difficulty just amped up." He jumped backwards, avoiding a flame blast from Brighid.

"Is everyone… alright?" Rex grunted.

"Hangin' in there!" Nia responded.

"Those two very strong!" Tora grunted.

"Erg." Brandon grumbled, "there has to be a way... Some kinda weakness…" He frowned in concentration. "She's a Fire Blade. We gotta find water!" He suddenly realized. He looked around to spot a water tower on the outside of the arch.

"Guys!" He grabbed the attention of his party, "are you ready to run?"

"Hmm? Sure!" Nia said.

"Then follow me!" He said, sending out a wave of electricity from his gauntlets, forcing the inquisitor back, covering her eyes from the intensity of the blast. Taking advantage of the distraction the group follow Brandon out to the top of a hill where he explained his plan.

"Ah, there they are." Mòrag said, casually strolling forward out the gate.

"Pyra! One more full-powered blast!" Brandon yelled as he watched Mòrag walk into their trap.

"Got it!" She responded.

"Take this!" Rex yelled, sending a burst of flame at the special inquisitor.

"You're getting predictable, boy!" Mòrag simply blocked the fire again. She then swung it, dissipating the attack in multiple directions around her, several shards of which superheated the legs of the water tower.

"Look who's talking!" Rex taunted, "Poppi! Now!"

"Roger roger!" The artificial blade responded and flew into position with Rex as he fired his anchor, hooking onto the water tower.

"The water tank?" Mòrag gasped as she realized the group's plan, "so that's their plan!" She frowned as she charged the boy salvager in hopes of disrupting their strategy.

"PULL!" Rex grunted in effort and desperation as he saw the Inquisitor running at him. Brandon moved in to intercept and blocked a swing from Mòrag's sword, knocking her back.

"Ungh!" She grunted. "Curses!" She yells as she looks up and the water tower falls. The water flows out in a torrent, drenching both her and her blade, soaking the two and dampening their powers.

Taking advantage of the two's weakened state, Rex and Pyra charged forward, both holding the sword together, "BURNING SWORD!" They yelled as their special attack landed, creating a massive explosion, sending up steam everywhere and obscuring Mòrag's vision for the group to escape.

The group rand far out of town, not even slowing down until they reach the relative safety of the woods.

"I don't think they're following us," Pyra gasped for breath as they slowed down to rest.

"Perhaps we're safe for now." Gramps agreed.

"You're right," Rex collapsed on the ground, "we should get some rest. I can't go any further." Brandon simply panted in agreement.

"Ahh... Tora is pooped as well…" Tora yawned.

Nia gave a warm smile, then it dropped from her face as she made her decision. "See you later." She said and walked off.

"Huh?" Brandon said in confusion. "Nia?"

"We are grateful for all you've done," Dromarch bowed his head courteously, "we wish you well on your travels. Farewell."

Brandon bit his lip then stepped forward. "Nia!" He called, "wait!"

"What?" She stopped and turned around.

"Come with us." He paused to think his next words through carefully.

He sighed, "I mean you don't have anywhere to go right? I kept on trying to say this but you don't have to rely on those Tornan assholes anymore. I was going to say, you may not have known us very long, but you're part of our family now, that is if you want. I'm following Rex to his goal, and I want you to come with us. It not just that you're a great fighter and healer, which you are, but we've been through a lot together in such a short amount of time." He took a deep breath and extended a hand, much like in the Titan warship, an offering of friendship and family. "Come with us?" He asked.

Nia sighed, and looked down. After a tense moment she looked back up and took Brandon's hand. "Sure, why not. After all," Nia looked genuinely happy for the first time since he'd met her, "we're family."

"Yeah!" Rex shouted in joy, "onward to Elysium!"

The group started walking to find a better suited camp site. "Elysium? I mean Brandon talked about it like an ideal, but you actually believe in it?" Nia gave Rex a look.

"Well, Pyra told me that she was born there. Yet here she is. So it must exist, right?" Rex asked with a hopeful look in his eye.

"Your logic is almost as good as Dughall's." Nia joked, "Huh, now I kinda wanna see this Elysium for myself now. Maybe it really does exist?"

"It does!" Rex assured.

"An endless field of green among the clouds, eh?" She said, "If the legends are true, even people like me…" Brandon smiled and wrapped an arm around her shoulder and the two walked on into the forest.

 **What? Is that an update I see? Well, after crushing the math test and getting a snow day today, I've decided to put in a couple hours and finish a chapter. Plus midwinter break is later this week as well, don't really have that much to do other than play some Starcraft 2. (I'm going to pump out chapters this week.**

 **BTW** **www . twitch . tv / bosstyne (delete the spaces**

 **Go and support this twitch. She's a starting sc2 player so go and support her in her journey!**

 **Also, jeez. I went back and re-read the previous chapters and there are so many mistakes with grammar and some character interactions are just cringe. So Ima probably go back and edit later on. Please leave review, I need some kind of editor, or I guess PM if you want to beta read.**


	6. Chapter 5: Commander Vandham

"Ouch!" Rex exclaimed in pain as Pyra wrapped up his arm.

"Ah, I'm sorry." She apologized, "did I wrap it too tightly?"

"It's fine! I'm fine! See?" Rex tried to assure her, "I can swing it like this and it doesn't even-" Rex stopped as a shock went through his arm and he gave another yelp of pain."

"I knew it." Pyra deadpanned.

"Thanks! I feel much better now." Rex said.

I'm sure that's whatever Nia and Brandon whipped up doing its job." She glanced over at the two who had both leaned against Dromarch and were engaged in their own conversation. "Thanks." She called over at the two of them. Realizing they were being talked about they glance over, Nia flashing a peace sign while Brandon threw them a lazy two finger salute.

"Pyra, you're hurt too?" Rex asked, noticing the slash across her skin, "are you OK?"

"I'm fine." She smiled, "it's just a scratch."

"Hey, let me help." Rex reached to grab the bandage and starts to wrap up Pyra's wound.

"Thank you, Rex." Pyra said as Rex worked.

"No worries. Least I can do. There, all done! How's that?"

"Looks good. Um, Rex?" Pyra said noticing something, "look. They're the same." She holds up her arm to Rex's.

"Oh, uh, yeah. I guess they are." Rex blushed from the proximity.

Pyra looks up to the embers thrown up by the fire. "So beautiful." She remarked.

"Yeah, it really is." Rex sighed, "I guess that's probably because you made it, Pyra…"

Pyra looked over to Rex, "Huh?"

"Ahh! No, what? I didn't mean it like that!" He looked over at Brandon, expecting a torrent of teasing coming his way, but he saw that he had already fallen asleep. "You're just, erm, really good at making fires... That's all." He rubbed the back of his head.

"It's what I do." Pyra smiled as she snapped her fingers, creating a small light, then blew, scattering beautiful embers across the night sky.

Brandon blinked blearily as he awoke. He let out a huge yawn and stretched, several joint popping in his back. He looked around in confusion as he had never awoken so stiffly before. He jumped at the sight of Nia leaning her head against his shoulder. Blushing, he edged his way over to the side without disturbing her and stood up. The action stirred the rest of the group awake. After preparing and eating breakfast, Rex pulled out an object from his pouch as the group surrounded him.

"What is that?" Tora asked, curious as he could only the the round underside.

"A Cloud Sea compass," Rex responded, "a must-have for salvagers. It's sort of a map of the Cloud Sea." He continued adjusting knobs and dials on the compass. "If you do this... And this…" He talked to himself in concentration, "what's the date today?" he suddenly spoke up, addressing the group.

"Um... Amathatober 5th, 4058." Pyra responded. Brandon gave an involuntary shudder at the familiar yet different sounding month.

"OK! So now we put the date in…" he made one last adjustment and held the compass out to the rest of the group. "See?"

"This is very clever." Tora said, sounding intrigued.

"Looks like Gormott is the closest country to the World Tree right now." Gramps observed.

"What a coincidence," Brandon said, raising an eyebrow.

Rex nodded, not really hearing, "all we need is a ship…"

"The army has every ship in town in its grip," Dromarch informed.

"We're kinda stuck…" Nia sighed.

Rex looked over his shoulder to Gramps, a silent plea of desperation.

"Sorry I'm no use now…" he retreated from the gaze of Rex back into the helmet.

"I know, I know," he sighed, "but I'm all out of ideas."

"Rex-Rex need ship?" Tora suddenly pitched in, "Tora have good idea!"

"You do?" Rex asked.

"There is ship builder living at Gormott Titan's bum-bum! Old friend of Tora's Grampypon. He called Umon! Maybe he help if we tell him what's what!"

"Sure," Rex responded, "it's worth a shot! Let's get going."

Tora sets off, leading the way for the rest of the group. "Hey Tora?" Brandon suddenly asks.

"Yes?" Tora responds.

"How far of a walk will this be?"

"Oh, no more than a day," the Nopon informed. Brandon's arms went slack as he stood in place and slumped. Rex simply patted his shoulder.

"I hate endurance runs," Brandon grumbled under his breath as he trudged along behind Rex. Nia let out a laugh.

"You? I thought you salvaged and fought for a living," she taunted, "how are you so unathletic?"

"Hey!" Brandon exclaimed, "I've never had to walk or swim for more than a couple hours! Plus most of the time underwater is spent guiding objects along after Rex does the actual work, not endurance swimming."

"But what about fighting?" Nia continued to press, "surely you should have some endurance."

"Are you kidding me?" Brandon raised an eyebrow, "these people that we fought recently were the hardest fights of my life! Enemies rarely lasted more than a minute before freaking Torna or the Flamebringer!" Brandon's expression then grew downcast. "Maybe I shouldn't fight with you guys."

"What?" Nia asked, "I don't think I heard you properly, did you just say you shouldn't fight with us?"

"I mean yeah," Brandon said, "I haven't really contributed much so far, I've just been getting knocked to my ass every fight."

"Cmon, don't be like that," Nia tapped a fist to his arm, "that brain of yours is focusing too much on the negatives. You figured out how to beat Mòrag after all. Plus if it weren't for you even that idiot consul could have beaten us by running around his blade."

Brandon gave her a soft smile, "thanks for that. I guess I should take this as a learning moment huh?"

"Of course you idiot," Nia smiled back, "I think that you've had too much success if one mess up destroys your self confidence like that!"

Brandon scratched his head sheepishly, "I guess you're right." He gave a soft chuckle.

"Of course I'm right!" Nia let out a laugh, "didn't think I would have to heal your self esteem on top of your injuries!"

"Yeah yeah," Brandon quipped back, "that's exactly why I got you to join us, oh master of healing." He gave her a mock bow.

"Oi, I've already got Dromarch doing that, I don't need another one." Nia hit Brandon softly who laughed in response. She crossed her arms, "oh yeah, laugh it up, real funny," she snarked.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't resist," an almost evil smirk then crossed his face as he gave another mock bow, "milady."

Nia hissed at him in response. "Whoa there, a little aggressive." Brandon lifted up his hands placatingly. "Couldn't help myself, you made it way too tempting."

"Hmph," Nia just grumbled in response. The two continued bantering back and forth with Rex jumping in a couple times all the way to Umon's.

The group steps into the old ship building dock.

"Hellooo! Umon! Umon?!" Tora called out. "Where is Umon?" Tora muses to himself after not receiving an immediate reply.

"Who is that? Who is noisy while I do my work?" A voice suddenly called out indignantly from the large boat. A Nonpon mechanic stepped out from the boat to face the group.

"Tora!" He exclaimed, "This big surprise!"

"Long time no see, Unclepon!" Tora replied.

"Yes! Long time!" Umon agreed, "about one whole year?"

"Yes, about that!"

"You became very big in one year, Tora!"

"Yes, Tora not littlepon anymore," Tora chuckled.

Umon looked to see the rest of the group standing behind Tora, "and Tora have lots of sidekicks!"

"Rex-Rex and friends are not Tora's sidekicks!" Tora exclaimed, "they are real friends, Umon! Rex-Rex! Meet Unclepon Umon! He did great research with Grampypon! He is great builder of ships!"

"Hello!" Rex said.

Brandon gave a lazy two finger salute, "What's up?"

"Greetings," Pyra said politely giving Brandon a look.

"I see! Tora's friends! Tora has lots of friends. Very good! Tora has become fine biggipon." Umon complimented.

Tora chuckled bashfully.

"Well, Tora," Umon said getting to business, "did you need Umon's help for something?"

"Well, we wanted to borrow a ship. From Unclepon Umon!" Tora said.

"A ship? But there are lots of ships in Torigoth!" Umon asked confused, "why hike all the way to bum-bum to see me?"

"Oh...erm...well…" Tora stuttered.

"Tora run out of gold, hmmm?" Umon concluded.

"Umh... Yes! Tora spend all the gold on artificial Blade!" Tora said in relief, "Tora flat broke, like penniless pancake. I wanted to go on a little boaty-jaunt to, ah... nearby place. But no money to go on boat!"

"Hmmph. I hope Tora can keep track of all of these fibs he's telling…" Nia whispered to Brandon.

"Eh," Brandon replied uncaringly, "unless you'd like to volunteer to tell him what happened in Torigoth?"

"...I guess you're right…" She conceded.

"Heh, Nia accepting defeat? A rare occurrence." He joked.

"Artificial Blade, eh?" Umon said looking over to the metallic member of the party. "Was this what Tora's Grampypon was working on?"

"My name is Poppi." Poppi said, "pleased to meet Unclepon."

"Yes! This it! This pretty mighty! Tora take after Grampypon indeed! Oooh, well... How can I refuse Tora now?" Umon said delightedly then scratched his head, "Tora may use Umon's ship but there is problem."

"Wh-what is problem?" Tora asked hesitantly.

"You see, ship not quite ready just yet. Not much left to do! But work stop, because no building parts."

"I swear to god," Brandon sighed, exasperated, "are all Nopon creations like this?" He sighed again. "Is that the only problem?" Brandon asked, raising his voice.

"Correct!" Umon responded, "but that is big problem. Big like sea or mountain."

"So you just need some spare parts?" Brandon crossed his arms.

"It just as you say, friend," Umon informed.

So, if we help with the ship then…"

"Of course! I make ship ready," Umon agreed, "then you borrow!"

"Alright then, show me the ship, I should be able to finish it with what I've got on me right now." Brandon said stepping forward. Umon went onto the ship and guided Brandon to the unfinished sections. Brandon quickly pulled out some spare parts and went to work. After making some final adjustments he stepped outside with Umon.

"That wasn't too hard," Brandon said.

"So now we borrow Unclepon's boat!" Tora exclaimed.

"Thanks, Umon!" Rex said, "we owe you!"

"Indeed!" Umon responded, "enjoy your boaty-jaunt!"

The group followed Rex onto the boat. Rex took the helm of the boat while the rest took positions behind him. The boat set out into the cloud sea, heading straight for the World Tree.

"So that's what the World Tree looks like up close…" Rex said in amazement.

"Wow," even Nia stopped to admire the view, "I've never seen it so close before…"

"Me neither, to tell you the truth," Rex admitted, "but it's just as awesome as I'd hoped."

"I mean it's great and all," Brandon crossed his arms, "but how do we get over the chasm?"

"Any ideas?" Rex looked around, "Pyra?" He asked.

"Well then," Brandon said after a moment of silence, "Let's do a loop around and look for something, If we don't find anything we'll head for the nearest titan that isn't part of the Empire and figure something out."

"We…" Pyra suddenly murmured from behind.

"Huh?" Rex asked, not quite having heard her.

"Rex!" Pyra suddenly exclaimed, "we need to leave! We can't stay here!"

"What, why?" Rex looked confused, "What are you talking about, Pyra?"

Suddenly the boat started rocking hard as the sea started to shift in front of them. A massive dark object suddenly came into view and slowly rose out of the Cloud Sea.

"Ophion!" Pyra exclaimed.

"An Artifice!?" Brandon exclaimed.

"Quick!" Pyra pointed at the helm.

"Gotcha!" Rex grabbed the wheel and gave it a mighty spin, turning the boat around rapidly.

"Ophion! Stop this!" Pyra muttered, "What's wrong? Can't you hear me? It can't be!"

Brandon looked backwards to see the giant snake like creature sink back down below the clouds, much to his relief.

"What was that? Thought we were done for!" Rex exclaimed.

"That was an Artifice," Brandon's face took on a dark look.

"Huh?" Rex asked. Brandon gave no response.

"Watch out!" Gramps suddenly exclaimed, "Uraya's Titan!"

"This is NOT good!" Rex exclaimed.

"No dip, Sherlock!" Brandon yelled sarcastically.

Everyone screamed as the plummeted into the mouth of the massive titan.

Brandon landed hard, tumbling across the ground. He winced as he stood up, hearing the crunch of the boat shattering behind him. He looked around in panic, searching for his family. His eyes came across Pyra. He sprinted to her and helped her to her feet.

"You okay?" He asked. Pyra nodded in confirmation.

"Pyra! Anybody!" A familiar voice called across the dark space.

"Really?" Brandon asked, walking up to the source of the voice, "you put your love interest ahead of your brother?"

"Wha-?" Rex said. "I uh..." He stuttered.

"Heh," Brandon elbowed Rex, "I'm messing with ya." Looking around as his eyes adjusted to the dark he spots Nia and Tora on the ground. He runs up to the two and kneels down.

"You both okay?" He asked.

"Ach, ow." Nia groaned in response as she got to her feet. "I'm fine, mostly."

"Meehh…" Tora's response came.

"Looks like we're all okay…" Rex said optimistically.

"Except for the fact that we now find ourselves in the belly of the beast." Gramps said, sending Rex's spirits back to the dump.

"The beastie's belly?" Tora said in fear.

"This is the inside of the Urayan Titan," Gramps confirmed.

"Meh meh!" Tora whined.

"Look," Gramps pointed to a small slit of light in the distance to further his point.

"Tora think this not nice place," Tora said.

"Is that how we're gonna end up?" Rex asked as he caught sight of the remains of the boat.

"Hey, Rex! Don't jinx us!" Nia hissed.

"Everyone. Shouldn't we try to get out of here?" Dromarch said trying to restore order, "if I recall, the Urayans live towards the beast's back. There must be a way up there."

"Yeah. Can't hang around here, for sure," Nia agreed.

"Over there." Poppi suddenly pointed over in the distance.

"Huh?" Nia asked in confusion.

"Poppi see something over there," Poppi elaborated, "someone coming this way."

"For real?" Nia said doubtfully, "maybe you're just seeing things."

"Nia," Brandon sighed, "you're doubting the sensory capabilities of a mechanical being?"

"Poppi is certain." Poppi reinforced, "something is flickering over there."

"Flickering...you say?" Rex brought a hand up to his chin, "some kind of ghost maybe?"

"S-shut up!" Nia stuttered, "there's no such thing!"

"Scared?" Brandon chuckled. "I thought you were the one who mocked me for believing in Elysium."

"D-don't talk nonsense, Brandon!" She huffed indignantly, "I'm not a kid!"

"You are scared!" Brandon declared, "at last. Something Nia's scared of."

"Just you watch…" Nia stopped, noticing the lack of a particular person. "Hey! Where's Pyra?"

"What?" Rex looked to where he swore Pyra was just a second ago.

"Pyra's missing," Nia repeated.

"Uh... But she was right here." Rex said, "Pyra? Pyra?!"

"Hey, what's up?" Pyra suddenly said, walking up behind Rex.

Both Rex and Brandon yelped, "H-hey, what's the big idea?! Don't wander off like that!"

"Nothing really. I was just taking a look around. What's the matter?"

Nia chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Rex asked.

Brandon grumbled, seeing the irony.

"Oh, nothing…" Nia waved a hand dismissively.

"Titan's foot!" Rex exclaimed in frustration. Pyra took that moment to create a large ball of flame and released to hover above their heads.

"Oh! Things are looking brighter already." Gramps said in relief.

"Poppi can help too," Poppi declared, activating her own flashlights.

"Now even more brighter!" Tora exclaimed.

"You two are certainly earning your keep," Nia sighed, "I wish I could say the same for old Dromarch here."

"Apologies, my lady." Dromarch said.

"Hey," Brandon said, "cut the tiger some slack. Not all of us can use fire or have built in flashlights."

"Let's find the exit," Rex interjected before the two could continue bantering.

"Yeah!" Everyone else responded.

The group make it through the back of the Titan's stomach. They passed through several small tunnels and open areas before reaching a brighter area.

"There's some kinda dim light…" Nia noted.

"If I remember, the Urayan Titan has a translucent hide…" Gramps said.

"Well then, I'll bet that's sunlight light filtering through," Brandon said.

"So the Titan must be above the clouds now?" Rex asked.

"I dare say!" Gramps replied.

"If we can make it to the source of the light, maybe we'll find a way out of here," Pyra said.

"Hold it!" A voice suddenly boomed from above. "Looks like a bunch of mushes I ain't seen yet.  
You gotta have pretty damn bad luck, ending up in a Titan's guts like this." The voice was emanating from a large, stocky man who jumped down from a ledge to land in front of the group. Two other men and blades followed.

The man inspected the group in front of them, eyes sweeping over and ignoring the defensive position that Brandon took. He noticed something particular, "that blade… An emerald Core Crystal!" He exclaimed.

He let out a huge laugh, "So the rumors are true!"

"Huh?" Rex said confused, "what rumors?"

"The tale that every Driver worth his salt knows," the burly man responded, "the legendary Aegis. Folks been saying she just woke up from a 500 year nap. Wouldn't have thought she'd show up with a pencil-neck shrimp like you for a Driver, though."

"You think I don't have what it takes?" Rex said indignantly.

"Nah, I mean... Maybe you could handle a normal Blade," the man responded. "But a greenhorn like you with a beaut like her? Don't kid yourself. C'mon boy. Hand her over to a grown-up."

"This crap is getting old," Rex grumbled, "leave her alone!"

"Yeah!" Brandon added, "the blade has a say in who their driver is. Else she wouldn't have bonded with him."

"Y'got heart, kid. I like that," the man said to Rex, almost completely ignoring Brandon. "Yew, Zuo, you take care of the others," he ordered, "I wanna squash the kid."

"Heheh. Leave it to us, boss."

"We'll take real good care of 'em."

The group took fighting stances, each readying their weapons. The burly man made the first move. He charged at Rex, drawing his dual scythes and slashed downward. Rex dodged to the side, bringing his own sword up in a counter. The man easily dodged and smacked the sword to the side.

"What's the matter?" He taunted, "are you the Aegis or aren't ya?!"

Pyra ran in front of Rex and brought up a shield. "Huh?" She thought to herself as she struggled against the man. "Something feels different… This man, he's…" She was cut off as Brandon disengaged from his previous opponent and rushed at the burly man. Brandon threw an electrically charged fist which was easily blocked by a scythe.

"That all ya got, mate? Pathetic." The man goaded as he swung to counter, his superior strength easily knocking Brandon's gauntlet to the side. He then thrust a foot into Brandon's chest, knocking him away and slamming him into a wall, throwing up a cloud of dust, obscuring Brandon's unconscious form.

Rex growled in anger, "we'll show you! We'll show you what me and Pyra are made of!" He swung his sword, unleashing a crescent of flame. The man simply sidestepped, dodging the wave as if it were nothing.

"He dodged?!" Rex exclaimed in disbelief.

"Course I did, kid," the man gave a mock yawn, "any slower, you'd bore me to death."

"How about this then?" Rex cried as he sent more blasts of flames at the man.

"Hmph," the man sighed as he dodged each burst of fire.

"Rex, wait!" Pyra exclaimed, "I can't supply power this fast!" Rex ignored Pyra's warning and continued to send blasts of flame.

"Nowhere left to run!" Rex exclaimed as he saw the man back himself onto a wall. "Eat this!" He lifted his sword to deal a finishing blow. Suddenly the sword lost energy and closed in on itself.

"Uh?" Rex looked up at the sword in confusion.

"Playtime's over. Take this!" The man exclaimed as he leaped forward, turning the scythe into a reverse grip.

Rex closed his eyes and braced for the hit. After a second he opened his eyes in confusion to see the scythe's blade right in front of his neck.

"Hah!" The man scoffed, "if you're a Driver, you're a new one for sure. Drivers, see. We borrow our Blades' energy... channel it into our weapons… And let rip with an Art! But you gotta be careful - there's a limit to it. If you go in all bull-headed like that, kid, even that Aegis of yours...  
is gonna run out of energy before long." He explained, throwing a smile at Rex.

"W-what...?" Rex stuttered in confusion.

"H-huh?" Nia followed suit as the other two drivers relented their attacks and backed off.

"The name's Vandham," Vandham said, tapping his chest, "I run a little firm out of the nearby village."

"A...firm?" Rex said in bewilderment, still trying to process what just happened.

"Come on!" Vandham jestered, I'll treat you to some grub as thanks for letting me take a whack at the legendary Aegis!" He let out a laugh as he walked away.

"Just then... I realized while we were fighting…" Pyra explained, "I sensed from the very start that he didn't mean us any real harm."

"What about Brandon?!" Rex exclaimed.

"I'm fine," Brandon said as he gave up the pretense of unconsciousness.

"What?" Rex exclaimed.

"I was perfectly fine after that, a bit bruised but nothing even close to past injuries. So I figured that either he was much weaker than what the initial few blows felt like or he didn't want to cause serious harm, so I played along, if I had just gotten up and shook it off I figured his jig would be up.

"Hm, he sure is a strange old goat, that one…" Rex commented as he started following the rapidly shrinking figure.

 **Early update again. I intend on putting up another one Monday as that is the last day of break and then I'll go back to the regular schedule I set for myself. I also intend on putting up a Minecraft fic later next week, but that could well be an over estimate of my abilities. Updates for that fic will likely be much slower than this as that will be completely original content. If you read other fics, you'll notice that mine is remarkably similar to other people's. The main reason being is that as a new writer I take heavy inspiration from others. I won't copy of course, goes against my moral code.**

 **Anyways we're progressing along pretty quickly story wise. We've just met Vandham. If you haven't played Xenoblade 1 or X you probably won't understand the chapter name. Vandham will follow canon so be prepared for that, although I do intend for there to be a twist. Speaking of twists, how's Brandon? I really liked writing in the small bits of banter between him and Nia but it's really hard to write something that flows naturally as I'm not really one for witty banter. I'm usually the shy person who only really talks when I'm really invested into something like video games or physics.**

 **Just as an aside, I haven't really given any details onto the characters as you've probably seen them in game. Though I let that carry over to Brandon, sorry about that people who need a visual. I kinda want to model him off of me though so let's give him a description.**

 **Some kind of Asian (I'm korean)**

 **Height is going to be around 5'6" (I'm 6ft in real life but I want to make the scenes make more sense so you don't see a mental image of Brandon leaning down to interact with everyone else. )**

 **180 lbs. kind of chubby but is still decently muscled (I'm around 210 irl but again, he's a good 6 in shorter than me. I would say I'm kind of fat but I row so I've got some muscle on me, I think)**

 **He wears black jeans, a white t-shirt, and a green vest. (this will change later)**

 **In terms of gadgets he has the super advanced backpack that also can be used as a jump pack (it has 1 other function that will be revealed later)**

 **He also has the gauntlets with** **taser** **knuckles that stop just short of his elbows. When folded up they look like a thick watch on the left arm and a solid metal band on the right.**

 **The summary says that he is insecure, you'll learn more on that later, just know that he hides it mostly with jokes and sarcasm making him the perfect parter to Nia.**

 **Hopefully that's good enough. Anyways, please leave a comment or ask to be a beta. Not seeing a single review on the story is making me feel like there's nothing good to say about this fic so far. And there's my self confidence falling faster than Brandon's.**


	7. Chapter 6: Mercenary Adventures

**Thank you to RedBurningDragon and LordOfTee for boosting my confidence a little. In response:**

 **The intent was that because it is the titan that is swimming across the Cloud Sea I felt that the boat just needed a patchwork job, something that someone like Brandon could accomplish easily with scrap metal that he carries around. Plus Umon's related to Tora who needed THREE Bion connectors just to keep Poppi's hat in place. I feel like that's something the family would kind of have in common with excess parts. You're going to have to wait for the Artifice thing though, I've got a pretty good idea of what I'm going to do with it. You're going to have to wait till chapter 4/5 though as that's when the story will branch off.**

 **To LordOfTee: Sorry 'bout this but this chapter is going to be a little more copy paste other than the small side training scene. I just felt that even with Brandon the whole adventure with Vandham wouldn't have changed much. Don't worry, I intend on making chapter 5-6 completely original as Brandon goes and does his own thing before returning to the group. Hopefully my writing would have improved enough to actually change some dialogue rather than copy paste in fear of messing something up. Also I went and looked up some youtube vids, he would be more like 2000-3000 years + that 4000 years that Alrest existed, old, which won't matter because he was in cryostasis during that entire time so the only negative to come out of it is some memory loss.**

 **Please leave a review and I will try to answer it in the next chapter. On with the story!**

"Helluva story," Vandham grunted as they traveled through the tighter areas of Uraya. "So you headed to the World Tree to reach Elysium, but got swallowed up whole instead? You got some crazy luck."

Brandon sighed and nodded in response.

"So, er," Rex fumbled around with his words, "what were you doing back there, then?"

"Y'know, this Titan... It ain't too fussy about what it eats," Vandham said, "I went down there to see if anything we might need in the village washed up. But mostly I only found your sorry mushes."

"Yeah, sorry about that…" Rex said sheepishly.

"Here we are," Vandham said as he stopped, "welcome to Garfont. Ain't much but it's home."

"The village has a lot of children," Pyra noticed as she looked around.

"Lots of Drivers and Blades here too!" Tora added noticing the training ground.

"We're in the business of dispatching Drivers and Blades all across the world," Vandham explained, "also, most of the kids are war orphans. Took 'em in while on the job."

"So you're saying that you take them under your wing," Dromarch stated.

"Just till they're able to make it by themselves," one of the men next to Vandham said.

"Some of 'em might grow up to be Drivers, like ourselves. ...But then others might become tailors," the other added.

"It doesn't matter what they wanna do with their lives. We leave it up to them to decide," Vandham finished.

"Aye. Us "Justice Busters" just wanna help."

"Good eggs, huh?" Nia crossed her arms. Brandon chuckled at that comment.

"You said it. I've been called worse. Come on. Let's eat! All this egg-talk is making me hungry," Vandham gestured and walked over to an area with benches. The group sat down at various tables. Rex, Pyra, and Vandham at one, the rest at another. Vandham called over a cook and was brought plates heaping with food.

"I'm going to get some water," Pyra declared standing up, "Vandham?"

"Cheers love! Gimme a beer!" He responded.

"Beer? Coming right up!" Pyra wandered off, wondering to herself where to find a beer.

"What's up?" Vandham asked Rex who hadn't touched his plate at all, "the grub don't suit you?"

"So do you fight in wars too, Vandham?" Rex asked suddenly.

"You got a problem with mercenaries?" Vandham joked.

"Are you trying to get us to join up?"

"Hah!" Vandham laughed, "shrimps like you? We're not THAT desperate. Relax."

"Okay. Good to know."

"Hmmm… Rex, you're a salvager, ain't ya?" Vandham asked, noticing Rex's outfit.

"Yeah," he responded.

"You musta fished out your share of military supplies, right? And it looks like your brother over there," he nodded his head at the other table to emphasize his point, "he makes weapons right? You fine with that?"

"Nah. Neither of us want to get involved with it. Those weapons he makes are to defend ourselves. The stuff he sells are quality of life goods."

" It's all the same," Vandham waved a hand dismissively, "Compasses, valves for ether stoves... Armies need all these things as well as salvagers and… inventors. I don't know what kind of 'quality of life goods' your brother sells but I guarantee that some of it has found its way into the hands of the military" He crossed his arms, "that bread you're eating? It's made from ruska flour. Supplied by the Ardainian government. This world's full of war. Don't matter if you're a soldier or not. As long as you're alive… you're in the war, some way or another. Don't you think?"

"Um, I…" Rex stuttered, lost for words.

"Life can be cruel. Crueler than you know. That's why I set up this little band, so I could protect the people I care about," Vandham explained, "Rex. You're the Driver of the Aegis. The whole world's gonna try and scalp you, you realize that? How ya gonna live, when you got everyone gunning for ya? It'd be easy to run. All you'd need to do is ditch that girl… maybe your brother as well." He added as an afterthought.

Rex had no response.

"Hmmm…" Vandham brought a hand to his chin in thought. "C'mon!" He said suddenly as he stood up, "gotta get ready!"

"Wh-where are we going?" Rex looked up in surprise.

"Just follow me, kid!" He said jovially as he walked off.

Rex stood up to follow Vandham. Brandon and the others joined him.

"We're going to put you through some training!" Vandham declared as they reached a more open area a slight distance from the village.

He gestured toward the bird like blade beside him. "Roc here will guide you lot," he pointed at Brandon, Nia, and Tora, "while I'll take Rex, any questions?" When he received several shaking heads the group split up, Vandham took one scythe while Roc took the other.

"Alright Roc, what do you have in store?" Brandon challenged.

"Hm," the bird like blade thought for a moment, "I think we should have some of you fight each other. I'll observe to see what your strengths and weaknesses are. After I'll enguage you directly one on one."

"Sounds good," Brandon crossed his arms, "who do you have in mind to go first?"

"I think I'll go with you and Tora first," Roc responded.

"Alright," Brandon said taking a fighting stance as Tora got into position with Poppi across from him.

"Ready?" Roc said, "fight!"

Brandon made the first move, rushing at Tora, gauntlets crackling with electricity. Tora brought up his shield and countered the first couple swings. Brandon feinted to the left. Tora fell for the feint and moved his shield to intercept. Brandon, taking advantage, threw a kick at Tora's exposed side, only to growl in frustration as Poppi simply blocked, knocking Brandon back. Tora, seeing the opening, charged forward, bashing at Brandon with his shield. Brandon jumps and somersaulted to the side. He backflipped right after to avoid the metal arm of Poppi as he stood up. Tora continued to use the tactic of using Poppi to distract and try to run in with his shield to take a whack at Brandon. Brandon, quickly learning Tora's strategy, waited in preparation for Tora's next attempt. When Tora charged at him like a bull seeing red, he jumped over Tora, doing a flip and landed behind the Nopon.

"Good game!" Brandon exclaimed as he tapped a fist to the back of the Nopon's head. Tora collapsed in exhaustion as Poppi ran over to help him up. Roc and Nia gave a short applause.

"Brandon!" Roc exclaimed, "nice job. Your fighting technique leaves something to be desired…" Brandon frowned, "but I'm sure that can be improved with time. Now your strength comes from adaptability. Opponents can outskill you but I'm sure they won't be able to out think you. You took Tora's head on attacks and learned how to counter them." Roc slung praise at Brandon then turned to Tora.

"Tora," he sighed, "while it seems like you're able to take a hit and counter relatively effectively, you lack variety. You need to come up with something more than charge at them with a large shield."

"Brandon!" Roc continued, "you up to fight me now?"

Brandon grinned in challenge, "you're on!"

Nia sighed, "I suppose you want me to help the furball then. C'mon Tora, I've got some things to show you." The pair grabbed Poppi and wandered a little away from the two preparing to spar.

Brandon popped his knuckles in anticipation. The two took fighting stances and simply waited, each wanting the other to attack first. Roc decided to make the first move, flying over to the side rather than taking a direct line of attack. Brandon matched Roc, sprinting to the side, huffing in effort as he struggled to keep up. Roc threw the first swing, sending a gust of wind to throw Brandon off balance before moving in to try and hit Brandon with the scythe. Brandon simply used the wind to his advantage, propelling his backflip further away from the bird as he sent a small electric shock wave at Roc. Roc flew up, completely avoiding the attack then flung a small tornado at Brandon. Brandon, unable to react in time, got caught in the small tornado, flinging him across the ground. Roc, using gravity to his advantage, flew down, reverse gripping the scythe and stopped right before the blade could connect.

Rock held out a hand as he put the scythe away. Brandon panted heavily as he took the offered hand and got back to his feet.

"Nice going kid," Roc complimented, "we just gotta work on some predicting as well as adapting."

Brandon grinned and held up a fist. Roc tilted his head in confusion.

"Oh right," Brandon muttered, "this is a fist bump, you just make a fist and tap it to the other's, kinda like a high five."

"Ah," Roc said as he did exactly that.

"Hey Roc!" Vandham called, waving the group over.

"We just got a job to go check out some kinda crazy energy effect," he explained as everyone gathered up. "Somewhere up around the blowhole. Whaddya say?" He addressed Rex. "Fancy bein' a mercenary for a day?"

"Um, OK? But, I mean, we don't work for free…"

Don't worry, kid," Vandham laughed as Brandon swatted Rex, "you'll get paid."

The group set off to the back gate of the village.

"Hey Nia," Brandon said, walking up beside her. "How was training the furball?"

"Ugh," Nia groaned in response, "we didn't do much because he stopped every five seconds to stare at your battle." Brandon started laughing.

"Laugh it up, you actually had a good dynamic with Roc while I couldn't do anything with Tora."

Vandham suddenly stopped ahead.

"An ether miasma," he said, noticing Rex's eyes going wide, "take it this is your first one."

"Ether miasma?" Rex asked.

"It's a load of poisonous waste products spewed from the Titan's guts. Y'know when you get gassy? Kinda like that."

"Erm, is there a way through this thing?" Nia asked, "I can't see any way round it."

"Hey. No fear. Roc, mate! You're up!"

Roc flew above their heads and gave a mighty flap of his wings, sending a massive gust of air, blowing away the Miasma.

"Miasma's died down!" Rex exclaimed.

Vandham laughed, "yup, nothing to it. Let's roll!" The group continued walking along the path.

"An Ardun... Just what we need." Vandham stopped again. "Rex, any good with that anchor?"

"Yeah, I get by."

"Hand that here. Now watch." Vandham hit the trigger on the anchor, launching the grappling hook at the Ardun. Vandham maneuvered the hook skillfully so that the end wrapped around the Ardun's leg. He gave a harsh tug on the anchor, toppling the massive creature.

"Awesome!" Rex exclaimed, "I never thought of using it that way!"

"The trick is to pull it taut at just the right moment." He said, "Now you try!" He tossed the anchor back to Rex who strapped it back on his wrist. He fired again just as the beast stood back up, tangling up a leg and he pulled, toppling the creature again. Vandham moved forward and finished of the poor creature.

"You got it after seeing it once," he praised, "not bad, kid."

Rex chuckled sheepishly.

"Listen up, kid. Drivers use Arts. But that doesn't just mean using the powers your Blade gives you. There are Arts that use your own strength, or take advantage of your enemy's. There are all sorts. A Driver's job is to be smart with his Arts, and protect his Blade."

"Protect my Blade?" Rex looked over at Pyra.

"Yeah. It's a two-way thing, kid. You gotta be aware of the power comin' out of her. Don't waste it, channel it through your Arts, and protect her. If you can do that, then you're a true Driver, kid."

"'A true Driver'?" Rex mused, "I don't know... Am I ready?"

"'Course you are. That thing from before?" Vandham scratched his head sheepishly, "took me five years to learn that."

"Five years?!" Rex exclaimed.

"Yeah. But you saw it once, then you aced it like it was nothin'. And, you got Brandon, Nia,Tora in tow. Those guys are pretty handy. Kid, you got a bright future." Vandham started walking again, the group following.

"I think I'm gonna spew," Nia crossed her arms.

"Take the compliment," Brandon said as he lightly elbowed her.

"Biggipon has scary face, but he very nice!" Tora said.

Vandham let out a huge laugh, "Sussed me out, furrypon!"

"Like I thought…" Vandham said in a low tone.

"A Titan?" Rex gasped, "so that weird power effect they clocked… Maybe this is the cause?"

"Yeah, sure looks like it."

"I'll hazard it wasn't death by old age, either. Might have been an accident… On the other hand, it might have been attacked…" Gramps speculated.

"Hey look!" Vandham said as he spotted a massive monster heading their way, "seems like this Titan dying off has stirred up something else!"

"You sure it was the Titan dying that attracted it? Or was it this thing that killed the titan?" Brandon groaned as he activated his gauntlets. Despite Brandon's worries, they take out both the monster relatively quickly.

"The Blade returned to its core…" Rex noticed.

"So that monster was in resonance with the Blade…" Pyra added.

"Tora cannot resonate, stinky monster can resonate. Not fair!" Tora complained, stamping a foot.

"But Masterpon have Poppi." Poppi said striking a pose.

"Oh, Poppi!" Tora looked up gratefully at the artificial blade.

"If a Blade loses its Driver, it winds up like this," Vandham explained.

"So, is it, like...dead?" Rex asked tentatively.

"Nah! The crystal'll start glowing again after a bit of time. Then a new Driver can resonate with it. But…" Vandham trailed off.

"There's a but?" Rex asked.

"Its memory will be totally zapped. It'll be reborn as a new Blade. Won't remember a thing."

"Yeah? That's pretty rough. To have all of your past wiped out like that."

"But memories can be...painful as well. They can be a terrible burden. And, a Blade can live forever, as long as the crystal exists. It's just as well. Eternity is a long time to collect bad memories." Pyra said.

"Hmph," Brandon crossed his arms, "you're telling me. Although personally I would like to keep what little memories I've got left."

Pyra looked at him. "It's just, I barely have any memories left before the pod. The ones that I have may be bad, but it gives those that I remember a life you know. Makes me miss them less, knowing that they're kept alive in a sense, know what I mean?"

"I'm sorry," Pyra bowed her head, "I was just thinking, sometimes being able to forget is a… blessing."

"C'mon! Let's get finished up here!" Vandham suddenly exclaimed after having kneeled over the titan for a little bit.

"That's…" Rex said in shock.

"A Core Crystal!" Tora jumped up.

"What?" Rex asked, extremely confused.

"Well, that where they come from. Out of Titans," Vandham explained, "this one's brand new and ready to resonate. Like a big steak, right before you take that first bite. It'll probably end up buddying up with a bunch of Drivers… Every time the Driver dies, it'll forget everything and return to its core. Eventually it'll resonate with a new Driver. Drivers dyin', Titans dyin'... The Blade just keeps on livin' through it all… It's a never-ending cycle. An eternal history. As mortals, we'll never be able to understand."

"That's incredible," Rex whispered.

"It's really something, ain't it," Vandham agreed as he turned around and started heading back for the village, the rest following along.

"Ow!" Rex exclaimed in pain as Pyra tended to Rex's wounds.

Brandon elbowed Nia, "Déjà vu?" She smirked back.

"Hey, hold still. I thought you were a tough salvager, Rex!" Pyra joked.

"Gimme a break. Pain is pain, isn't it?" Rex complained then looked over, "how about you? Are you hurt?"

"Don't worry, it's just a scra—" she tried reassuring Rex then suddenly, "Ouch!" She cried in pain.

"That was on purpose! You were hurting me on purpose, weren't you? Well?"

"I wasn't, honest! I was just rubbing the lotion in…"

"Rex! You rubbed it too hard! It hurts, see!"

Rex tensed in pain as Pyra imitated him.

"Hey, you two!" Vandham called standing up, "gimme a look at that!" He scrutinized the wounds of the two. "

"What is this… Haven't seen this before… Dunno why a Blade would be stuck with a bunch of wounds…" He trailed off, noticing something even weirder. "

And they're exactly the same as Rex's!"

Brandon sighed. "That may be because Pyra saved Rex by sharing her life force. It would certainly explain why she's in exactly the same state Rex is in."

"Incredible. Never heard of such a thing." Vandham said.

"It's all true," Rex said.

"I just thought it was an accessory."

"Vandham, that's not my style."

"Blades are supposed to heal up right away, no matter what the wound. If the crystal's in one piece and the Driver's alive, nothing supposed to be able to touch 'em."

"That's just how the chips fell. It is what it is," Rex dismissed.

"What it is, is a problem. It means, if one of you kicks the bucket, you both do."

"You told me that a good Driver always protects his Blade," Rex said, throwing out Vandham's words, "so that's what I'll do. I'm gonna protect her."

"Easier said than done, kid."

"Listen. Pyra... She saved my life, brought me back from the dead. So I won't die again! I've got to live, for her sake! Until we get to Elysium, at least. We can make it together," Rex declared, standing up in his moment of passion.

"Rex, you mean…" A voice suddenly interrupted Vandham.

"Going to Elysium? I can't let that stand. It won't do. A bunch of amateurs stealing the show? The script exists for a reason!"

"Akhos!" Nia exclaimed. Brandon narrowed his eyes.

"Please speak only when you're spoken to, traitor," Akhos said arrogantly.

"Traitor traitor traitor!" A childlike voice taunted from above. A blade floated down to behind Akhos. "Nia, you're one of the baddies now. You villain!" The blade giggled.

"I didn't betray anyone!" Nia exclaimed defiantly.

"Then why do you stand with them? You think that is where you belong?"

"I'll say it is," Brandon said standing up.

"Hmph. Who are these goons?" Vandham crossed his arms.

"Torna," Brandon stated simply.

"Torna?!" Vandham yelled, borderline screamed.

"Akhos! Just tell us what you're here for!" Nia yelled.

"Well, the Aegis, obviously. I just had to come and see the leading lady with my own eyes."

"Jin put you up to this?" Nia accused.

"Well deduced. Oh, by the way…" Akhos's grin became even smuger, "his orders were to deal with you in whatever manner I see fit. So you know what that means."

"He wouldn't... You're lying!" Nia said in desperation.

"Why the surprise? Did you think he would still care about you? Oh, to live in your reality…" He shook his head dramatically.

Nia growled, no response coming to mind.

"Well, well. Your part in this play is coming to an end. So! Time for you to shuffle off the stage."

Vandham yelled in rage.

"What's wrong?" Rex asked.

"I know the name Torna. They've taken the lives of too many Drivers. Including some of my crew. Good people. Rumor says it's because they're collecting Core Crystals. So, if this Akhos is one of them…" He trailed off, eyes widening in fear. "Yew! Zuo! Get everyone out of the village!"

"Yes, sir!" The two reply in unison and run off.

"You ready?" Vandham looked to the rest of the group.

"To take on this Shakespeare wannabe?" Brandon smirked, "no one talks to my friends like that and gets away with it." He put a hand on Nia's shoulder.

"Thanks for this," Nia said.

Brandon nodded in acknowledgement.

"It'll be tough. His Blade, Obrona... She can manipulate the ether in the air. It lets him counter elemental attacks by generating fields of the opposing element!"

"Good thing I don't use ether," Brandon smirked.

"Finally, a decent opponent for a change! Let's go!" Vandham exclaimed, rushing forward.

 **That was a slightly shorter chapter and the next one probably will be as well but that's just the build up to the finale of chapter 3! Also reading some of the other Xenoblade fics on this website... jeez, they're so much better than me at writing and creativity. Feels bad. Also I'm pretty sure that small Brandon response to Pyra was done in a different, better, fic than mine but it's actually my own personal philosophy. If someone dies, think of it like they're still alive in you. You're memories of that person is what keeps them alive. That's why countries like México celebrate days like day of the dead. Now I'm not saying feel good because a person died. You can cry all you want, it does actually help you feel better, at least for me. Just keep that one Dr. Seuss quote in mind: "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." (idk if that actually was Dr. Seuss) adding onto that, don't cry when this fic is over, I've got sequels in mind *wink***

 **Off of that depressing note. Brandon is slowly starting to open up about his own past. He hasn't said anything about it other than revealing that he knows what an Artifice is (Rex and the others seem to have forgotten with Vandham coming in and all, don't worry it will be addressed in due time Mr. RedBurningDragon.)**

 **Please leave a review if you haven't, it would make my day knowing this is good enough for you to have some kind of response.**


	8. Chapter 7: Fonsa Myma

**Answering reviews:**

 **RedBurningDragon: Hey, thanks for the compliment :)**

 **For now he will fight alone using the gauntlets. The energy blades from the beginning will be used again but he only uses those to kill and because most of his enemies so far have been human he uses the gauntlets specifically to avoid killing. I do intend for him to fight much like DLC in the future though, you're going to have to wait to see it in action!**

 **Early update but LordOfTee's review has made me want to get these "copy paste" chapters out of the way before I take more time to work on some original content. Also that other fic won't come out this week, sorry but since I'm going to be working on this for the majority of it as well as school. Now on with the show!**

Akhos immediately dodged the bulky mercenary, his blade coming in and using Vandham's momentum against him, chucked him far away from the battle. Akhos himself used that to his advantage to send a pulse of energy out in an area, knocking back the entire team.

"Such an honor! Sharing a stage with the legendary Aegis!" Akhos exclaimed as he walked towards the Aegis, slashing his swords downward onto Pyra.

Pyra cried out in pain as she fell to her knees.

"Ugh!" Rex yelled out as identical wounds appeared across his chest.

"Huh?" Akhos said, puzzlement in his eyes, "why would the Driver…"

"It seems… that they're taking each other's damage, somehow," his blade realized.

"Ah!" Realization dawned in his eyes, "so that means that the Aegis… is a mere mortal right now…" he gave an almost sadistic grin, "in that case, a little more damage, and she'll be easy to deal with!" He stabbed his sword at Pyra who moved her head to dodge at the last second. He continued the assault, slashing his sword through solid rock as he tries to cut Pyra. He pulls his sword out and brought them down in a X shape.

Pyra screamed in pain.

"Pyra!" Rex shouted.

Akhos grunted as a sudden gust of wind pushed him away from Pyra.

"Kids these days, I swear!" Vandham joked, "can't leave you alone for a minute!"

"Could use a hand!" Rex exclaimed.

"Leave it to me. I'll take this dog down!"

Brandon suddenly rushed in from behind, sending a burst of electricity through the blade. Recoiling slightly, he set up a charge on his gauntlets, sending out a burst of energy in a shockwave, knocking Akhos and his blade back. Vandham assisted by throwing his scythes up to Roc who then flung a tornado at the pair.

"Gyah!" His blade exclaimed, "what's happening?!"

"What? The ether flow's disturbed!" Akhos said, "gah. How am I supposed to deflect now?!"

"You and your fancy moves. You lack grit," Vandham said.

"Urgh!" Akhos grunted as the tornado died down enough for him to see the entire group converging on him, "just too many of these bit-players… My interest has waned. Obrona! Perhaps it's time for another tale." Akhos said dismissively as he turned around and jumped away..

"Sure, sure…" his blade teased as she followed him out of Garfont.

"Tch," Brandon gritted his teeth, "arrogant then cowardly, exactly what I hate in these people."

"Pyra!" He turned around at Rex's call. Rex had run up to Pyra, supporting her unconcious figure. Brandon and Nia rushed over to help, Brandon taking out first aid supplies while Nia drew upon Dromarch's power. As the blood flow stabilized, the pair rushed Pyra to the infirmary and worked on treating the unconscious blade late into the night.

"How is she?" Vandham.

"She's not badly hurt. Dromarch thinks she just needs rest," Rex responded.

"That's good to hear," Vandham let out a breath.

"Maybe...I used too much power again…" Rex looked downcast.

"Hey, Rex…" Vandham said.

""Hmm?

"Know what the difference is between me and that Akhos fella?" Vandham asked.

"Well, he's a bad guy, trying to get Pyra...and you're...not?" Rex asked, unsure of the answer.

Vandham gave a laugh, "thanks for the vote of confidence, kid." Vandham paused, "but what if I told you that we weren't that different?"

"Huh?"

"My crew at the village, we think we're fighting for justice. But, a just fight? I'm tellin' you now, there's no such thing. What people call justice? It's just an excuse to fight. War is war. The more you stand up for yourself, the more people wanna fight you. Before you know it, you're in a war. Listen. All I'm saying is, we got our fight, and he's got his."

"But what he's doing is-" Rex tried to say wrong.

"Yeah, it's bad. But war ain't about right and wrong. Power. That's all it is. And power can take many different forms. It depends on the heart of its wielder. If we don't use our power, just 'cos we're scared of it, we're done for. As for who's right and who's wrong... No one knows for sure. So, all we can do, is protect what's important," Vandham explained.

"I think I understand," Rex nodded slowly.

"We all got our own war, kid."

"My...war," Rex wandered back to the inn, lost in thought.

He fell into a turbulent sleep. The next morning, he shook Brandon awake, he had wandered in late at night after worrying over Pyra. The two made their way to the infirmary.

"Good morning!" Pyra exclaimed as Rex and Brandon walked into the infirmary.

"Pyra! Feeling better?" Rex asked.

"Yeah! I slept so much!" Pyra did a stretch."

"Good. Glad to hear."

"Also… Brandon, Nia's got something to talk to you about," Pyra added.

"She does now does she?" Brandon smiled at the Gormotti girl who looked exhausted after tending to Pyra for most of the night, "what's up?"

"Ah, erm…" She stuttered nervously.

"Go on," Pyra prompted.

"I... Brandon...I want you to come help me," Nia said quietly.

"For what?"

"To Vandham," she explained, "I need to tell him about my past with Akhos and all that lot."

"I mean sure," Brandon readily offered, "but I just want to say something before Vandham does. I've said it before and I'll said it again, you're part of our family now. I've personally got a feeling that Vandham's going to say much the same."

"...Thanks."

"Nia originally said she was going to go alone. But I said maybe it'd be better if you went along too."

"Er... Maybe I should explain... Vandham... He kind of scares me a bit…" Nia stuttered out.

Brandon gave a small chuckled then offered a hand, "well then, what are we waiting for?"

"Oh, it's you guys?" Vandham said upon seeing the group approach him, "what got you out of bed so early?"

"Nia's got something to say," Brandon took a step back, leaving Nia at the front.

"I wanted to say… thanks for yesterday. That guy, Akhos, I mean... I wanted to tell you about him, you see… Thing is, we used to be…"

"Being a mercenary... You meet all kindsa different folks," Vandham interrupted.

"Huh?" Nia asked in puzzlement.

"Your country, family, money... People got plenty of reasons to fight," He gave Rex a pointed stare and grin, "like fightin' for a special girl. I see that a lot. Though not every girl has a strange crystal in her chest, eh?"

"Y-you mean Pyra?" Rex stuttered, "w-we're just…" Brandon let out a laugh.

"Nia, you're with these guys right now. That's what matters," Brandon gave Nia an elbow and a pointed 'I told you so' look.

"But...aren't you…"

"Anyway. Rex, weren't you saying you wanted to get to Elysium?"

"Yeah... But we hit a snag…" He said, "with a monster like that in the way," Brandon's face grew dark, "it's impossible. No Guild ship's getting close to it without going down."

"Well, I've got an old mate. In the Urayan capital. Got a feeling he might know a way through."

"Really?!" Rex asked excitedly.

"Yeah. I gotta go there anyhow. So I could introduce you," Vandham said.

"Vandham! Thank you!"

"Nah! It's destiny or something. Don't sweat it. Get your stuff together and meet me by the village entrance."

Vandham strode off while the group headed back to the inn to gather their belongings and headed to the village entrance.

"Time to head out. Yew! Zuo! Take care of this place, yeah?"

"No worries. Leave it to us, Boss!"

"Boss. You're in a good mood somehow!" One joked.

"Hehe, I guess so. Well, take care!"

Vandham started walking, the group following along behind him. As they headed through a tunnel, Brandon couldn't shake off a weird feeling.

"Ha ha ha!" A voice exclaimed the moment they stepped out. Two cloaked figures stepped in front of the group from their hiding spot, "looks like all the chat about the Aegis was true!"

"Who're you?" Rex asked.

"That's a heavy burden you have there. Sure you're up to it, pipsqueak?" He said while striking several poses, "see sense, step aside and let the big boys take charge. C'mon. Yield the merchandise!"

"Huh? What? Vandham, do you know this guy?" Rex asked in utter bewilderment.

"Never seen him in my life," Vandham crossed his arms.

"Bah!" The man exclaimed as he and his blade threw off their hoods.

Brandon raised an eyebrow.

"Wait...are you…" Rex lifted a finger, trying to think.

The man gave an arrogant smirk.

"Uh, never mind."

The man and his blade leaned back dramatically. "You really are a bunch of rinky-dink, bogus, two-bit, no-mark Drivers, aren't you? Behold the mighty...  
Zeke!  
Von!  
Genbu!  
Bringer of Chaos!  
Mostly known as Zeke. And often addressed as...THE ZEKENATOR!

Behold my Blade! Pandoria! And this is my sword, the Purple Lightning Dreamsmasher! If you want a taste, come and get it!" The self proclaimed Bringer of Chaos exclaimed boisterously.

The entire group blinked at him. "We're good." Rex dismissed and walked right past him.

"Good?! No?!" Zeke looked astonished that no one took him up on his challenge, "w-wait… Wait! You barbarians!" Zeke put on a sudden burst of speed with his blade, charging to take position in front of the group again.

"This guy... I'm tired of him already," Nia sighed.

"Gah! You think you lowlifes can lick the three of us?" Zeke boasted.

"Three of you? I count two. Lost someone, or are you just that bad at counting?" Nia snarked.

"Huh?" Zeke looked confused for a second. "Oh, get a load of this… Our beloved mascot… Turters, reveal yourself!" He felt around in his jacket for a moment before coming up empty. "...Huh? Turters? Turters?! Turters, where are you, boy? Turterrrrs!" Zeke started scanning the area around him for his beloved pet.

"Oh!" Pyra exclaimed having seen a small turtle crawling up beneath her, "hello, little guy! How are you? What are you doing, out here all alone...?"

"Ah-ah-ah!" Zeke exclaimed seeing his turtle resting in the palm of the Aegis, "Turters!" He rushed forward, snatched his turtle from her hands, "handling a man's turtle!" he spat at her before rushing back to Pandoria.

"...He could have just grabbed Pyra there. Why'd he go for his turtle instead...?" Rex looked confused.

"Ugh. What an idiot," Nia groaned.

Zeke perked up at that comment "Gah...! Listen, whatever. She'll be mine soon enough! Got a problem with that? Then come at me! And don't hold back!" He drew his sword once more then struck a pose.

"What! Is this guy for real?" Nia pointed in disbelief. Brandon just face palmed.

Everyone rushed forward to engage Zeke at once. Zeke was quickly overwhelmed and knocked back to the edge of the cliff.

"G-good try. Not bad. B-b-but! Wipe yourselves down and get ready for my super-ultra-mega-move!" Zeke cried.

"We're waiting with bated breath. For your super-duper-whatever," Nia snarked.

"You asked for it!" He yelled, Hyaargh! Bringer of Chaos! Ultimate Lightning Fury Slash!

"Erm…" Pyra stuttered.

"Whoa!" Zeke cried as the ground underneath him started rumbling.

Zeke and Pandoria screamed as the cliff shattered underneath them and they tumbled down in the black below.

"Wh-what just happened? They just…" Rex was at a loss for words.

"Ugh. What an idiot," Nia said.

"Don't see that everyday," Vandham said in amazement.

"Come on. That's enough nonsense," Nia said.

"Yeah," Brandon agreed as they marched on.

"War with Mor Ardain is looking more and more likely by the day," Dromarch commented, noticing the abundance of warships hovering around the capitol.

"Looks like they've expanded the military program. That's a lot of warships," Vandham added.

"These ships look different to normal ships," Poppi said.

"Yeah, we don't muck about with our Titans much. No need for it. Urayans like things pretty natural," Vandham explained.

"I've seen Urayan ships before, back in Argentum. It's like the total opposite of how the Ardainians use them," Rex added.

"That could be one reason they're always at each other's throats," Dromarch said.

"They've been like cats and dogs for a long time," Gramps mused.

"Well, from where I stand, the Ardainians are worse. All that metal's just bad taste," Nia said in disgust.

"Ha!" Brandon exclaimed, "that's not the only reason they're worse. Personally if I had to take a side it would be Uraya. They're the ones fighting for the freedom of places like Gormott. I'd rather have freedom fighters than war mongering imperials any day," Brandon's voice took on a dark edge.

"Brandon…" Rex tried to say.

"Look, we can go over my history later, for now, let's meet this person Vandham's taking us to, yeah?" He said and started walking.

"What's that?" Rex pointed as they were walking through the center of the city.

"It's a distribution center," Vandham explained, "the government tries to ration out what little resources they have. In practice, it's just first come, first served."

"OK. That's the last one for today," they hear the stand runner call.

A child that was last in line looks up eagerly. Suddenly a soldier pushes her out of the way to take the rations offered.

"Ah!" Pyra yelled as she started running toward the stand.

"Come on! I'm a soldier! Been busting my gut for this country! That should be going to me. Not the likes of you!" The soldier said harshly to the girl, "Uh? Don't look at me like that! Respect your elders, you snot-nosed brat!"

"Are you OK?" Pyra kneeled down, comforting the girl, "what do you think you're doing?" She directed toward the soldier, "She's just a child!"

"What?!" The man exclaimed in rage.

"H-huh? Who the hell are you?" He demanded nervously as the rest of the group caught up and surrounded the soldier.

"Rex... This isn't our business. Leave it!" Nia hissed.

"Being an adult isn't just about barking orders. Sometimes you need to help someone weaker!" Rex ignored Nia to reprimand the soldier.

"Shut your face! You don't know what the hell you're talking about!" The soldier yelled back, drawing his twin rings.

Brandon shook his head in disgust. "You're the reason why I hate soldiers." Brandon gestured for the others to back down. He activated his gauntlets, the mere sound of metal clanging and hydraulics whining set the soldier on edge. Then the gauntlets start crackling with electrical energy. Brandon grins savagely as he charges the soldier, ducking under the clumsily swung rings and socking the soldier in the gut, his metal armour simply serving as an extra conductor.

"Wh-who are you?" The soldier pants as he slowly recovers from the electric shock. He looks over the group.

"Th-the color of that crystal! You're...! Waaaaah!" He cried as he ran off.

"Really?" Brandon said in disbelief, "I'm the one who beat him up then he runs off in fear of the Aegis?"

"Not good. He'll be bringing others before long," Gramps said.

"The rumors about Pyra must have traveled pretty far. Even grunts like him have heard 'em," Vandham said.

"Sorry... I guess I should have used the cloak…" Pyra apologized.

"But who spread rumors?" Poppi asked.

"From what I hear, it's some fancy-pants Nopon merchant," Vandham responded.

"A Nopon merchant...?" Rex mused to himself.

"Excuse me, Mister Vandham?" The girl from earlier runs up to the burly mercenary and tugged on his shirt.

"Uh? Oh! Well, if it isn't Iona! You grew a fair bit! How's Grandpa Cole doing?" He looked at her expression, "ah... Not too good, then."

"Who's this?" Rex asked.

"Uh? Ah, this is Iona. That old friend of mine takes care of her."

"Hi, Iona. Great to meet you!" Pyra squatted to greet the girl.

"C'mon. Let's beat it before those soldiers show up."

"Theater?" Brandon asked.

"Yup, it's a theater, all right," Vandham responded. The guy we're here for leads the troupe here."

"Ugh," Brandon muttered under his breath, "I guess some things stay the same.

"Ahh. Actors, eh," Rex said over Brandon's grumbling.

Vandham took a look at the information board outside, "...And right now ...they're in the middle of a show... Well? Wanna take a quick peek?"

"The Heroic Adventures of Addam. Might be interesting." Dromarch said.

"I've never been to the theater before," Rex said excitedly.

"Neither has Tora!" Tora exclaimed.

"Let's do it! Nice and quiet though. Looks like it's pretty packed today."

"OK!" They responded.

"And I saw at that time that the powers of darkness had engulfed almost everything!  
People and Titans alike were drawn into the abyssal vortex!  
The apocalypse was upon us! The end was nigh!  
But then! Despite the wounds all over his body, the great Addam stood…"

"O Architect! Grant me power!  
Power to banish the dark! Power to illuminate the world!  
Lo! Loyal servant of the Architect! The Aegis!  
O Aegis! Bless me with your power! Bring light upon the world!"

"Thus, they defeated the darkness.  
But at a terrible price!  
Three great continents sank beneath the sea of clouds forever."

"Servant of the Architect! By thy power, the world is saved!  
For the gift you have granted us, we are eternally grateful.  
I shall spread thy legend far and wide! May your name live on for eternity!"

The audience erupted into applause as the play came to a close.

"Hey," Nia tapped Rex's shoulder, "kind of awkward, right?"

"What was awkward?" Rex asked obliviously, Brandon shaking his head at him as he walked by.

"I mean, that play...it was about Pyra. Must have been kinda bizarre for her, eh?"

"I dunno... I guess?"

"Maybe you should go and make it right."

"Make it right? How?"

"Idiot. Figure it out yourself!"

"Huh? What am I supposed to-?" Nia walked off.

"Hey," she walked up to Brandon, "your brother's not the most socially adept is he?"

"Not really," Brandon chuckled. "I have yet to see him hold a full conversation with a girl without making a fool of himself."

"Well, he'd better learn quick or I bet even Pyra's patience will wear thin," she said.

Brandon snorted, "I'll take you up on that, that girl's just as oblivious as Rex is, either that or too nice to say anything." Nia laughed along with Brandon as they catch up to Vandham.

"Comin' in, old fella!" Vandham declared as he barged into the room, the group following along behind him. "Crikey! Still collecting the junk, are ya?" He joked.

"Watch it, you bruiser! Don't make fun of a man's hobbies!" The old man shot back.

"Some greeting for your old comrade!"

"Comrade?" Nia asked.

"Yeah, I was a freelancer, before the firm got going," Vandham explained. "Believe it or not, me and this old fella tore up a good few battlefields in our day."

"We sure did. And thanks to that bleeding heart of yours, we almost never got paid!"

Vandham gave a laugh, "says the guy in the theater troupe! You can't be raking in much dough either."

"Hmph. Well, what can I do for you, friend?"

"Cole, you're old, ain't ya? Old enough to know...how you cross over to the World Tree... Get to Elysium, I mean."

"Elysium? But why? Why would you want to go there?" Cole looked over to the rest of the group. "That Core Crystal! You... You're…" He exclaimed. "So, the Aegis is back amongst us... Who is your Driver?" He said, composing himself.

"I am," Rex stepped forward.

"You? But you're so young…"

"How about it, old man? Do you know the way or not?"

"Hmmm… I dare say if you've trekked all the way here to ask me, you've already tried going yourselves?"

"Yeah... But we couldn't make it," Rex hung his head.

"No wonder. No one can get to the tree while that thing's guarding the way there. It won't let anyone past. But...a long time ago, there was a man who went up the tree. Met the Architect, too."

"There was...? Really?"

"Yeah. I'll wager anything he's got an idea how to get there again. You should try asking him."

"Who was it?" Brandon said impatiently, annoyed at Cole's playing of the pronoun game.

Cole gave no response as his mind wandered.

"Please, tell us!" Rex begged, "I've got to get to Elysium, no matter the cost!"

"Well, I can tell you," Cole relented, "but first I'd like to have a word with her, if I may. With the Aegis, I mean."

"With Pyra?"

"Of course," Pyra readily agreed.

"Please, through here."

"Mister Cole, was it? You wrote that play, didn't you?"

"I hope it didn't stir up any painful memories…"

"No... Some of them are...good memories," Pyra lied.

Cole chuckled softly. "You know, you're not very convincing. I'm sorry, I really am. I just wanted people to know about that time. Show people how we were back in those days... Really get it across to them… Will you be using it again? That power…"

"I don't know yet," Pyra admitted.

"I just don't know if this world can take it a second time."

"I know that. I'd never use it if there was another way. This is what I hope for... But…"

"That man's the only one who knows how to get to where you're going. Do you think you can make it to him? I just wanted to make sure."

"We can. I mean, it's my destiny," Pyra said, a fire burning in her eyes.

"Yeah… That boy who's with you…"

"His name's Rex. He's a good person. With a kind heart."

"Reminds me of a certain someone…" He smiled.

Pyra chuckled softly.

"Okay then. I'll help you out."

"Thank you…" She hesitated, "Minoth!"

"Minoth... I'd almost forgotten that name…"

"Now then, where did it get to...?" Cole stooped over to rummage through his desk. A sudden coughing fit overtook him.

"Grandpa!" Iona exclaimed, bursting into the room.

"Old man! You OK?" Vandham asked worriedly.

"I'm fine... I'll be fine in a second…" Cole continued coughing, "seriously, don't mind me…"

"Nah, we'd better call it a day, old timer."

"I'm sorry, fella," Vandham looked down at Rex.

"Yeah, okay," Cole agreed. "But come back again tomorrow, will ya? "There's something I want to give you."

"Come on, Vandham gestured, "I know a place we can rest."

 **Hopefully that was a decent chapter. I hope to be able to make the chapters longer and longer as 4k words seem kind of short as I go back through and re-read but I can't seem to top that. Before anyone comments I'm assuming because Ether is some kind of energy in the air that blades draw upon I was like, a burst of electricity like an EMP should be able to effect the flow of Ether, especially if in game a tornado is enough to disrupt it. I also never really liked that Vandham was able to counter the Ether manipulation like that so easily before but is unable to do it later. Brandon keeps on hint dropping his past as well. He talked with the rest of the group. That's pretty much the chapter. I'll see If I can get the next one up tomorrow but we'll see.**


	9. Chapter 8: Final Lesson

**Answering reviews:**

 **RedBurningDragon: Dang man, are you going to review every chapter? That would be awesome! Also, hm. I feel like that there was a missed opportunity. But then again I only play Nintendo games and Starcraft 2 so I've never actually touched fallout before.**

Brandon struggled to sleep that night. Old memories continuously swirling through his head made sure of that. When the knock came, he was fully alert. He sprung out of bed and started to wake the others before heading out to see what was going on.

"Old man! What happened?" Vandham exclaimed, running up behind Brandon.

"Iona... She's gone! It must've been...them!" Cole exclaimed in a panicked state.

"Who's them?" Rex asked blearily, rubbing his eyes.

"After you went, Malos...and some other guy paid me a visit," Cole explained in between gasps, his age really showing in that moment.

"Malos was here?" Rex asked, snapping into wariness.

"Who was the other guy?" Nia asked tentatively.

"Didn't catch his name. But he had red glasses," Cole informed.

"That's Akhos!" Nia exclaimed, "but what would he want with Iona?"

"Wait! Nia! Where's Pyra?" Rex said, frantically looking around.

"Sh-she wasn't there when I woke up…" Nia looked around, "what? No one's seen her?"

"Pyra... Maybe she realized what was going on with Iona?" Rex hypothesized.

"Well, knowing those two... It's not unthinkable," Cole agreed.

"That girl!" Nia exclaimed, "trying to save her on her own?"

"Where's she gone? Didn't she leave a note?"

"No. I'd have noticed!" Nia responded.

"I know where... I think it could be Olethro Ruins," Cole said.

"Olethro Ruins?" Rex asked.

"It's where Addam led his army of resistance from. Five hundred years ago. It's the place where the Aegis woke up, too," Cole explained.

"It must be that Malos is trying to lure her down there! I'm sure of it!"

"Cole! Tell us how to get there!" Rex begged.

"It's at the top of the Great Stairway," came the reply.

"Hey! Fella!" Vandham called to a nearby Urayan, "take care of this old man for us."

The Urayan nodded in absolute bewilderment.

"Let's move! If we go now, maybe we can catch up to her!" Rex shouted, already having started running.

Brandon groaned as they reached the bottom of the massive stairway. Suddenly Rex cried out in pain as he fell to his knees.

"Rex!" Brandon rushed over.

"I'm Ok. But Pyra must be fighting alone! She's close, though! Really close!" Rex said, slowly standing back up and making his way forward again. Brandon panted the entire way up.

"You can't beat me like that!" They hear Malos yell as they clear the top of the stairs.

"But maybe I can!" Rex cried in determination, swinging his sword down. Malos redirects his sword, easily blocking the slash. Rex jumped back to stand defensively in front of Pyra.

"The kid?!" Malos yells in rage.

"Rex!" Pyra cried, "everyone!"

"Vandham, take Iona!" Rex shouted up at the mercenary who had already knelt down to check on the unconcious girl.

"Gotcha!" He yelled back, picking Iona up tenderly.

"We'll take care of these guys!"

"Well, it's come to this. Hmph! Needs must! Obrona! Do them in!" The blue armored Tornan ordered his blade.

"Thought you'd never ask!" His blade flew up behind him.

"I must admit, I've enjoyed playing my part in this hackneyed tale, but…" Akhos said as he pushed his glasses back up his face.

"Teehee! Time for the final act?" Obrona giggled, flying up into the sky, and started emitting a red aura.

"Uh? You're bluffing…" Rex charged forward.

"No! Rex!" Pyra yelled in warning.

"What?!" Rex cried in disbelief as Akhos simply caught his blade with his bare hands.

"You see, Blades draw their power from atmospheric ether energy. They send their power to the crystal, where it manifests." Akhos explained, "but...what if we were to interrupt the flow?" He closed his hand, cutting off the ether links between the blades and drivers.

"Shit… Don't look good!" Vandham cried as he jumped forward to support Rex.

"Damn! The power's draining out of my weapons!" Nia cursed as the blue glow from her twin rings faded out.

"It's no good! I can't transfer power, my lady!" Dromarch yelled.

"Masterpon! Poppi feels funny!" Poppi shouted.

Brandon gritted his teeth. He sprinted around the two Tornan knights. He built up an electric charge for an EMP like before, intending to remind the two that he didn't use Ether. Unfortunately, Akhos saw it coming and immediately retaliated, slashing his swords out, forcing Brandon to cancel the charge and backflip backwards. He recovered in between Tora and Nia and readied another electric blast. Malos counterattacked first. He gave a grunt of effort as he sailed forward, swinging his sword and sending out a scythe of energy. Brandon gets caught directly in the blast, knocking him backwards and a cloud of dust was sent up as his body collided with the arena.

The force from the small explosion sent Nia and Tora flying to the sides.

"Urk, Brandon!" Nia cried.

"Why won't you guys leave Pyra alone?" Rex shouted.

"Isn't it obvious?" Akhos said, "we want the power of the Aegis for ourselves! It's Jin's desire after all to erase all of humankind from the world!"

"What?!" Nia exclaimed as she rushed forward, exchanging blows with her twin rings. "Did Jin seriously say that? Erase all of humankind?"

"My, my. Surely you knew. Better than anyone. You know what humans are really like."

Nia stepped back, unsure of herself, thinking about the most recent people she met.

"Nia! What're you doing?" Vandham shouted, grabbing Nia and pulling her to the side, just avoiding Akhos' dual katanas.

"You've seen the capital," he continued, "you've seen the ships, weapons, soldiers... All poised to invade Mor Ardain. Doesn't it make you want to laugh? Every corner of the world is defiled by such vermin."

"But that's nothing new. They haven't changed a bit in 500 years!" Malos added, "no wonder Father abandoned them!"

"No. The only thing that hasn't changed is you," Pyra countered "Father didn't want us to wipe out innocent life!"

"Why did he make us then? Get real! That's what we're for. To descend on the world and eliminate these pests!" He suddenly started emitting a massive purple aura.

"What?!" Vandham looked dumbfounded, "is that power coming from his Blade?"

"It's too…" Nia staggered to the side.

"Playtime's over. Let's end it! Akhos!" Malos got into position.

"Agreed!" Akhos said, spinning his swords.

Malos took a leap forward, slamming into the hasty shield that Pyra set up and shattered it, Rex and Pyra flew backwards. Tora came out of the dust cloud being carried by poppi. He activated the drill and thrust at Malos' blade who simply blocked and knocked the two backwards. Poppi slammed into a corner and Tora slammed into Poppi, completely disabling her.

"Poppi!" Tora cried.

"How very noble!" Akhos mocked to the panting Nia, "next!" He brought his swords down, intent on killing her when a white blur flew in front, taking the blow.

"Dromarch! Bastards...!" Nia cried, making one last attempt to attack.

"Over heeere!" a childlike blade taunted.

Nia turned around in surprise only to be punched square in the face and went down hard.

"Nia! Tora! Brandon! Damn!" Rex yelled as he sprinted forward in a desperate attempt.

"Stop, Rex! It's no good!" Gramps called from Rex's helmet.

Rex groaned in pain as he was easily countered and beaten down.

"Rex!" Pyra cried, rushing to his aid when she was intercepted by Malos who let her run into his fist.

"Hmph. Hitting girls isn't as much fun."

"Malos, you're the icon of chivalry," Akhos joked.

Malos smirked, sure of victory.

"You're not getting her!" A familiar deep voice shouted. Vandham threw his scythes up to Roc who started flinging sharp feathers at hypersonic speeds.

"Urgh! An attack from the outside?!" Malos yelled in frustration.

"Vandham!" Rex cried from the ground, unable to muster the strength to stand up.

"Ah! The lunk is back. But, that peashooter won't help you. Even if you hit, it'll barely register," Akhos said casually, slicing the projectiles out of the sky.

"Bloody idiot!" Vandam yelled, "think I don't know that?" He jumped, grabbed the scythes from Roc, and landed. He took the scythes and positioned them. "Are you ready, Rex?! Another lesson for ya! Something else you can do with a Blade!" He took the ends of the scythes and stabbed them into himself. Vandham grit his teeth before letting out a grunt of pain.

"What?" Malos yelled, "bastard!"

"He's channeling the energy from his weapon through his body," Akhos realized.

"Yeah." Vandham agreed under his breath. "Nothin' you can do to stop this ether flow. Nothin' at all!" Vandham let out a battle cry as he charged forward. Unleashing a powerful blast of wind from his hands, knocking back Malos and Akhos. Malos weaved to the side, avoiding the worst of the blast as he let out a yell in frustration. He charged forward and swung a fist and the mercenary who simply caught it and threw Malos back. Malos' blade also charged forward only to be intercepted by Roc.

Nia finally managed to stand up. She staggered a few steps forward seeing, Vandham taking on Malos alone, only to stop, placing her hands over her chest.

"Vandham!" Rex yelled in worry, still unable to muster the strength to stand.

"Move it! Take Pyra and scram, kid!" Vandham yelled.

"I can't... I can't just leave you here!" Rex said back.

"Rex! Don't go dyin' on me here! You gotta make it! You gotta get away from here now! Live! Live for her! You gotta make it to Elysium!"

"I won't allow it," Malos said as he sent a foot into the large mercenary's gut.

Vandham let out a gust of air as he staggered back. He lifted a hand to try to fire another blast of wind but Malos simply summoned a sphere of dark energy and swept and hand through, shattering what little power Vandham could piece together.

"Give it up!"

"Just go, Rex!" Vandham begged, clenching his fists in defeat, "Remember to fight your war!" Vandham cried, one last time before Malos stepped forward and slashed his sword diagonally across Vandham's chest, killing him instantly.

"Vandhaaaaaaaaaam!" Rex screamed.

"Oh please. What a cliché," Akhos put a finger on his glasses.

"No!" Brandon screamed having just awoken. Rex joined him in a scream of pain, but still unable to stand even with the rage coursing through him.

Brandon's voice went menacingly low. "You're going to regret that." He stated as he limped his way back onto the arena.

Malos laughed at him, "and how are you going to back those words up, boy?"

"Like this." Brandon hit several switches on his gauntlets, sending a command to his backpack, or more accurately, armor storage unit. Malos' eyes widened as he stepped backwards. Metal clanged, pistons hissed, and servos whined as a full exoskeleton covered Brandon, then metal plates started assembling around him to form a fully black metal armor. He growled in anger.

"This armor boosts my strength to that of over one hundred men, do you think you can beat that?" Brandon challenged. Malos simply smirked in response.

"Pyra!" Brandon yelled, "get Rex and the others out of here! I'll deal with these assholes." The recently conscious Pyra struggled to stand up and staggered her way over to Rex who was still struggling to stand.

Brandon started stalking over to Malos and slowly broke into a jog, then a sprint. He yelled with all his heart as he swung a powered fist, crackling with electricity. Malos, weary of Brandon's new strength lifted up his blade and sidestepped nimbly, letting Brandon's fist graze over the blade, testing his strength. Brandon, unused to the momentum, had to dig a fist into the ground as he slid backwards, digging a shallow line into the ground as he slowed his movement. He stood upright again and made a show of recharging whatever attack he was going to throw next. Malos prepared himself for another fast punch but Brandon surprised him. During that time he had charged up energy cannons that now sprung up from his wrists as he fired multiple high powered blasts of plasma, showering Malos with superheated material. Unprepared for the sudden onslaught, Malos crossed his arms to try to tank the hit. When he felt no pain he looked up in surprise to see his sword disintegrating.

Brandon gave a smirk, not that anyone could see it through his glowing green faceplate. His target had been Sever, and he had hit, destroying the blade and returning him to his core crystal. Malos looked on at Brandon in rage. He wreathed his hands in dark energy and rushed forward, swinging a powered fist. Wary of the destructive energy, Brandon sends out a magnetic pulse, repulsing all metal around him including Malos' armor.

He hears a yell. Brandon looks over to see Nia barely fending off Akhos. Brandon bounds across the arena and delivered a wicked haymaker combination that sent the Tornan knight sprawling.

He charges at Malos again as Nia held up her twin rings, sending a healing pulse across Brandon, giving him his second wind. He starts swinging at Malos, throwing everything in his arsenal at his adversary. Then a beeping filled the air.

"Oh no…" Brandon groaned as his armor ran out of power and started hindering his movements. He had no choice but to manually retract it back to the backpack. Malos managed to get back up after the onslaught and rushed Brandon as he folded the final part. He just barely blocks with the unpowered gauntlets and pushes back with all his strength, then let out a pained gasp as a sword sprouted from his chest.

"Looks like your act didn't last long," Akhos smirked as he pulled his katana back out of Brandon's chest. Brandon blacked out quickly and collapsed onto the ground. The two Tornan knights strode over casually toward the still grounded Rex. Rex then let out a scream.

"Brandon!" his rage finally giving him the boost he needed to stand up. He screamed in pain as he charged at Akhos, intent on killing him. No one noticed a certain Gormotti girl make her way over to Brandon. No one noticed her drawing as much Ether from the air as she could.

"I'll kill you!" Rex cried as he brought his sword down on the blue armored man. Akhos barely lifted his dual swords in time to block, the force of the impact brought him down to his knees.

"N-no... We have to go…" Pyra stuttered as Rex kicked Akhos to the side and charged Malos.

"You're a pain in the ass. Little shit!" Malos yelled as he easily sidesteps the clumsy, anger driven swing. He kicks Rex backwards and Rex crumples.

"Ugh… I can't… do it…" Rex staggers to his feet.

He gave Malos a defiant look. "You're going to pay."

"So long, kid," Malos simply responds, bringing down a fist full of destructive energy.

"REEEEEX!" Pyra screamed. She started emitting a golden light, a powerful aura pulsed around her.

"What?!" Malos staggered backwards a couple steps.

"Pyra?!" Rex said in amazement as he is filled with a new energy. "What is this?!"

"Y-you can't rewrite the act now! It's too late!" Akhos charged the blonde girl that had replaced Pyra.

"Hey, idiot! Look out!" Malos warned.

"Huh?" Akhos looked over at Malos in confusion when he heard a whistling. A massive beam of light came down onto the ground, Akhos barely dodging out of the way. The beam of light destroyed the ground where he had just stood.

Malos started laughing, "you awoke! At last! Mythra!"

"Mythra?! Pyra! You're…"

"I am not Pyra," Mythra interrupted.

Rex made a sound of confusion.

"I am Mythra. Pyra... She's a different self that I constructed," the blonde explained.

"A different self?"

"No time for that!"

"Okay!" Rex said in determination.

"Now focus! You need to focus! Or I can't transfer my power to you!" Rex nodded and the new sword in his hands lit up with power. Rex started blasting beams of light at Malos.

"No, it can't be! My powers are useless?! Wh-where is that energy coming from?" Akhos stuttered in newfound fear.

"Wake up! She's not drawing from the ether, it's something else!"

"Not...ether?"

"Mythra... Looking good. Things are heating up."

"Let's do it!" Mythra called to Rex as a new aura lit up.

"What is this?!" Rex asked as everything slowed down. Malos and Akhos charged at him, leaving indents of their bodies behind.

"It's called Foresight."

"I don't…"

"A prediction of what will happen in the immediate future. Read their movements to find an opening, then counter!"

"I get it!" Rex observed the movements closely. He moved at just the right moment to dodge out of the way.

"Gah! He... How did he dodge that?"

"Who cares how? Just get them!"

"Piece of cake!" Rex smirked confidently for the first time in the match.

"Ugh! You little… Th-there's no way! There's no way to break their link. I don't think we're going to beat them."

"This is it... The true power of the Aegis. Takes me back. I've waited so long to see it again. Mythra! Welcome back!" Malos yelled.

"Sacred Arrow!" Rex and Mythra yelled, ignoring Malos.

Akhos yelled in fear as bursts of light rained down from the sky. He and Malos manage to shield themselves but Akhos' blade is too slow and the light severely damages her.

"Wh-what is this...? Akhos...!" Obrona groaned in pain.

"Obrona!" Akhos yelled, rushing to her aid. Suddenly an electric burst came from behind them, finishing off the weakened blade. Everyone looked over in surprise to see Brandon standing with the support of Nia.

"How?" Malos yelled in frustration.

"It's going to take a lot more than that to take me down!" Brandon yelled, "your idiot partner missed my heart!"

"I don't…" Akhos muttered in defeat.

"Hmph! We gotta retreat! Akhos!"

"Obrona…"

"No time for that, Akhos!" Malos slams down a fist, obscuring the pair in dust. When it settled, the two were gone.

Rex finally let the exhaustion overcome him as he collapsed to the ground sobbing.

"Vandham!" He let out a scream of pure pain.

 **Sorry I put this up a day late. I got distracted by a 6 losing streak in Starcraft. Before you say anything, no Nia did not actually *spoiler redacted*. She inspected the wound, realized that the only life threatening thing was loss of blood, patched up the wound, and sealed it with Dromarch. Even if Brandon didn't react to the stab that well, he had decent instincts so he just managed to avoid a fatal stab. Even if Dromarch's healing isn't nearly as powerful as *spoiler redacted* he is still able to seal up non fatal wounds. While there is no way anyone thought I would kill off my own OC so soon, the chest wound, especially one of that magnitude will hamper him. Rest assured, Brandon will not die, at least in this fic.**


	10. Chapter 9: Old Friend

**Answering reviews:**

 **RedBurningDragon: Cool. I'll take all the support I need. Eh, it's a futuristic power suit, it's going to drain battery. I want to give away why the battery was so small but that would be a spoiler. I personally was picturing something from Xenoblade X/Halo for the amor. The inspiration as gauntlets as a signature weapons is actually Wu Shang from Brawlhalla and Iron fist. As cool as having foresight as a mechanic would be, I still think that 2's combat is better than 1. Also, I'm not a medical expert but people have survived crazier things EX Phineas Gage surviving a literal iron rod through his skull, plus Brandon's a futuristic scientist, let's assume that there's something in his bloodstream or something to keep him alive longer. Whatever seems plausible to his survival. Though to be clear without Nia he would be very much dead.**

 **Guest: Thank you! I'll try to make those chapters as emotionally powerful as the game then, especially since Brandon would have some kind of connection *wink*. Maybe I'm being picky but if you are to ever review again could you put down why you think certain things are good and point out some bad things, I do wish to grow as a writer and deliver chapters that people enjoy more.**

 **Now on with the show!**

"The body may die, but never the soul, which is merely passed on. Souls flow onward, born and reborn, forever part of the great ether stream," Brandon bowed his head solemnly as Dromarch finished his eulogy.

"Why friends make grave here? Can we not take Biggipon home to village?" Tora asked.

"He'd want to be buried where he fell. It is traditional amongst mercenaries," Gramps explained.

Iona came up and kneeled in front of the grave, setting down a bouquet of flowers, "I'm so sorry, Vandham… If only I hadn't listened to those people, you'd still be… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry...!"

Rex sighed and kneeled down to put a hand on the girl's shoulder, "it's not your fault. No matter what, those guys would have tracked us down eventually. What matters is that Vandham saved all our lives. For now, let's just be grateful to him… for that."

Iona sniffled, "You're right."

"I won't forget your words, Vandham. Ever. I'll fight my own war. With Pyra." He turned at the sound of footsteps. He saw Pyra walk up behind him. Rex stepped to the side to allow her to step in front of the grave. She bowed her head and closed her eyes, silently paying her respect. She opened her eyes again as she stepped off to the side.  
"Pyra?" Rex asked, "are you all right?"

"Yes…"

"Good. I was worried that you might not...wake up." Rex said in relief. He then took on a more intense look, "Pyra, you know I've got to ask. That thing that happened yesterday… You called yourself Mythra?"

"What? I - I, um…" She trailed off nervously, putting a hand on her other arm.

"I'd like to hear that, too. That power...it wasn't normal." Nia said as she walked in front of her. "Is that the true power of the Aegis? I think you owe us an explanation. It was pretty crazy."

"If that was what I think it was..." Brandon trailed off, small threat left hanging in the air.

"Now, now, don't pressure the girl," Gramps admonished.

"Well, um... The thing is... I mean…" Pyra stuttered. She trailed off as her core crystal started flashing. Everyone gasped as she transformed.

"P...Pyra...?" Rex stuttered.

"Why?" Mythra demanded.

"Huh?"

"Why did you wake me up?!"

"Huh? What?"

"I didn't want to wake up... I didn't want to come back! I left everything to her so I'd never have to use that power again! But then you woke me up!"

"W-woke you up...?"

"If you hadn't been so useless, none of this would have happened! I wouldn't have had to use this power! Didn't you listen to that Vandham guy? He told you to hold back! He told you to run! But you just had to push yourself. Idiot. Look where it's got us now!"

"That power?" Brandon asked quietly yet still managing to pack more intensity into those two words than Mythra screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Yes that power! The power that destroyed an entire Titan!" She yelled back.

"And what exactly is the source of that power?" Brandon asked softly.

"I think you should know if the trip to the world tree was any indication," she shot back.

"Are you crazy?!" Brandon suddenly raised his voice, "did you seriously use an Artifice to attack on the same patch of land we were on?! I don't know how you can regulate that power without NASA's supercomputers but that energy beam could have easily vaporized us!"

"It's not like I wanted to use that power. Rex woke me up and that was the only way to win!"

"You don't have to tell me that I messed up!" Rex interjected, "I know, all right?! I knew I was being an idiot."

"Rex…" Mythra looked down feeling guilty.

"But I just... I couldn't hand you over to them. I wanted to keep you safe," Rex said.

"Wh-wha...?!" Mythra was caught off guard, "a-at any rate! If you've got questions, you can ask her! I'm out of here! Bye!" She put her hands on her hips haughtily as she transformed back into Pyra.

"Ah... That's not fair… Everyone, I'm...very sorry about all that," Pyra apologized.

Nia suddenly turned to give Brandon a pointed stare. "You owe us an explanation as well." Brandon grimaced but nodded.

"Malos and I are Aegises," Pyra began back at the theater. "Blades born with a terrible power, strong enough to destroy the world."

"Malos is another Aegis?!"

"Long ago…" Pyra began her story.

"There was a man who climbed the World Tree, hoping to make it to Elysium and meet his creator. But...when he arrived at Elysium, he found it empty. So instead, as proof that he had reached that divine realm… He brought back two Core Crystals, Malos and me. And once he made it back to Alrest… he awakened Malos. Why he did it, I can't say. For greed...for power… or perhaps… When Malos awakened, he wielded his world-shaking power without restraint. To him, it was natural. He had never known anything else. I was awakened by a Driver who was determined to stop Malos' rampage. So Malos and I fought. I fought with all my might, and succeeded in defeating Malos. But not without a price. Three great Titans fell in the struggle. After the battle… I sealed myself away to ensure that power would never be unleashed again. I took the form you see now, and fell into a long slumber.  
That was five hundred years ago…" She concluded.

"The Aegis War," Gramps sighed. "The man who awakened Mythra was Addam, hero of the lost Kingdom of Torna. Addam fought as Mythra's Driver to protect the world from Malos. We Titans played our part in that battle, too." He said proudly, "It is our calling to live alongside humanity, after all."

"Gramps...?"

"Addam hid Pyra's sleeping body inside a great ship… And sunk her to the Cloud Sea's floor, where none could abuse her power," Gramps elaborated.

"So that day, that's the ship that we… That's how Pyra and I…"

"I believe...it was fate that we met each other," Pyra said quietly, "otherwise, my sister would never have woken up."

"You call her...your sister?"

"Mythra and I used to talk together, in that dream of Elysium where you met me. We promised that, when we were awakened again, we'd go home to the real Elysium. And then, we would fulfill our real purpose…"

"And that's...defeating Malos again?" Rex asked. Pyra nodded back.

"Your turn," Nia looked at Brandon when Pyra went silent.

Brandon gave a loud sigh, clearly unhappy about it. "I used to be a scientist," he gave a humorless laugh, "from the lost land of Morytha." Everyone but Rex and Gramps gave a gasp.

"What?" Nia said in disbelief, "Morytha's just a myth…" She said sounding like she didn't believe her own words.

Brandon looked at her, "that's why I didn't think that Elysium is so far fetched, if I came from a supposedly mythical land. Sorry about lying to you, but I truly don't remember much. Anyways, I was a scientist, engineer, computer programmer, pretty much anything with science and tech I was involved with. The Artifices…" He looked grimly at Pyra, "were never meant to be weapons." Everyone looked at him in confusion.

"I don't know about the one guarding the World Tree. I've never seen that one before but it is definitely using the technology. The thing is, I don't know how the hell they came to be under the control of the Aegises but they were never meant to be used as weapons."

"How do you know that?" Nia probed, putting her hands on her hips.

"Because I was involved with them," Brandon stated simply.

"What?!" Nia said in disbelief, "you were involved with those super powered… things? If they weren't meant to be weapons what were they meant to be?!"

"i... " Brandon closed his mouth, pressing his lips into a thin line.

Pyra gave him an understanding look. "If you can't talk about it now, I'm sure you'll be able to tell us later."

Brandon smiled gratefully. Nia huffed in annoyance.

"I'm very sorry about Mythra. She didn't mean all that," Pyra apologized in stead of the headstrong blonde as she walked into the guy's room. Rex stood up from his position on his bed while Brandon continued relaxing. "You have to understand, she came out because she wanted to protect you. She broke her own seal for you, even used her power as the Aegis… The flame powers I use are just a shadow of her strength. Droplets of excess energy, trickling through the seal…"

"Don't worry about it. She was right. This was all my fault. I'm just glad…" Rex trailed off.

"Huh?"

"That you've finally managed to open up a little!" Rex said with a bright smile. "Also, thank you! For protecting everyone, I mean."

"Protecting? Me?"

"Your powers are incredible. I could feel the truth behind the legends!" Brandon grimaced a little.

"I'm sorry... I…"

"You apologize a lot, you know that? I guess you still feel guilty… about the Aegis's power, right? But I...don't want you to have to apologize any more. I hope I can help you move past that… No, I know I can!"

"Rex, I-"

"Power depends on the heart of its wielder…" Rex took on a distant look in his eyes, "That's what Vandham said. That's why your power is the power to protect. The power to keep everyone safe and smiling. I want to do the same. I'm gonna be the kind of Driver who can protect you in turn. I promise! Make a girl cry? That's not gonna fly. Make a girl smile? You pass the trial! That's the third rule of the Salvager Code! Yeah?"

Brandon gave a small chuckled.

"Brandon! Rex-Rex! Can you help Tora with repairing of Poppi, please?" The Nopon called from across the hall.

"Sure!" Brandon called back as he slowly stood up and made his way out of the room.

"What's for dinner tonight?" Rex asked.

"How does Meatball Pot-au-Feu sound?" Pyra clapped her hands together.

"Delicious! Mm, I can't wait!"

"That's my Rex. Never loses his smile, and that's what keeps us all going," Gramps commented to Pyra as Rex ran out after Brandon. "Reminds you of Addam, don't you think?"  
-

"What's this?"

"Take it and go to Indol. That dagger's owner will tell you how you can get to Elysium," Cole said cryptically.

"This is...a Blade weapon, right? Who's its owner?" Rex asked.

"The man who was once my Driver," Cole said, still not giving a direct answer.

"Stop dancing around the question," Brandon said annoyed.

"Your...Driver? Huh? But then…" Rex said in thought.

"Cole is a Blade. We fought together in the Aegis War. Yes... His real name is Minoth," Gramps explained.

"Blades not get old though," Tora pointed out, "why Cole look so old?"

"Because I'm one of the cursed ones. A Flesh Eater," Cole said.

Nia jerked in surprise.

"A Flesh Eater?" Rex said, uncertain if he had heard correctly..

"A Blade who has been fused with human cells," Cole explained. "A long time ago, before the war, some sought to test the limits of Blades' potential. I am a product of their experiments. One of the unlucky ones who was tainted by their folly."

"Why would ancient people do that?" Tora asked.

"It seems that by combining Blade and human… It is sometimes possible to create Blades with extremely unique powers. But only very rarely. Most experiments were failures, and I was no different. I gained nothing at all, and lost my immortality to boot. I likely won't last much longer."

"Grandpa…" Iona said softly.

"Before I go, I want to see where your path ends. That dagger will aid you. Will you do this for me?"

"Of course! Oh, but can I ask you to do something too?" Rex asked.

"Namely?"

"I was wondering if you could write a play about Vandham," Rex elaborated.

"About Vandham?"

"Yeah. I think his story could inspire a lot of people. Once I find Elysium, I'll come see you again. Show it to me then?"

"An interesting notion... Perhaps that is the least I can do. Very well, I'll do it. So see you make it back here in one piece, understand?"

"Absolutely. You have my word!"

"Am I invisible?" Brandon threw his hands in the air as the others left, "is everyone just going to ignore the fact that we don't even know this guy's name? Hey, hey! Wait up!"

"I reckon the quickest route is... Back to Argentum, ship to Mor Ardain, then on to the Praetorium," Rex said as he looked through a map of Alrest.

"Why to Mor Ardain?" Brandon asked, voice dripping with hatred.

"Well, it's the closest to the Praetorium at the moment and not much trading happens with Indol, No ships go there from Argentum."

Brandon grumbled. "Fine."

"If we're lucky, there'll be a Guild ship at the port," Gramps commented.

"Can't say no to a free ride," Rex chuckled, "let's go and see!"

"It doesn't cost anything? Salvagers can board Guild ships for free. I'll negotiate for you guys, too."

"That would be big help!" Tora exclaimed.

"Hey! It Rex!" A Nopon exclaimed as Rex stepped onto the dock.

"Rex come back alive?!" another Nopon said in disbelief.

"Rex have many sidekicks now!" A third commented.

"Quite the little celebrity, aren't we?" Nia teased Rex.

"Well, you know. I've been trading here for a while. Anyway, I'll find us a ride to the Empire. You guys go on ahead to the inn."

"Sounds good. See you around, then!" Nia replied and followed as Brandon took the lead.

"Hey," Nia poked Brandon, "why'd none of the Nopon pester you?"

Brandon gave a soft chuckled, "I let Rex do all the trading, didn't really have a reason to step onto the trade guild so they only know me by name," he said as he walked up and started checking in for the night.

"Right," Rex said as he came back from reserving seats on a boat, "so it looks like we're heading out tomorrow. Everyone, make sure you're ready by then!"

"Understood," Dromarch said.

"Affirmative!" Poppi jumped up.

"The tea here is lovely.

Nia hummed in pleasure, "feels so good to rest in a proper inn after a long voyage." Brandon sat down next to her.

"That wasn't so bad," Brandon commented, "I've been on longer voyages." The group unwinded over food and drink and retired to their rooms for the night.  
-

Brandon awoke to a high pitched scream from the next bed over. He jumped to awareness and looked around to see a certain blonde haired girl lying in Rex's bed.

"You! How did you-?! Wha...?! What are you doing in my bed?!"

"Wait, I...!"

Mythra screamed again as she jumped out of the bed and sprinted over to the table. "Get out! Interloper! Monster!" She exclaimed as she started throwing objects randomly in Rex's general direction.

"W-wait a minute, would you!" Rex shouted as random objects flew around him. Brandon started to get out of his bed when he was beaned by a mug and went back down.

Rex yelped in pain as he was ironically smacked square on his forehead by his own helmet, "y-you're the one in my room! The guys' room, see?!"

"Huh?" Mythra looked around the room to see the guys recovering from her sudden attack.

"I can't believe it. I did it again. I am such an idiot!" She smacked her forehead as she made her way out of the room.

"Sleepwalk much?" Brandon snarked, rubbing his nose.

Mythra turned around and shot a glare at him, then at Rex "you were staring."

"Huh?" Rex exclaimed in confusion.

"Pervert!" She slammed the door behind her.

"Wha-wha-wh-wh-what?!" Rex stuttered.

"She's certainly exposing an awful lot of skin," Gramps commented as he tumbled out of Rex's helmet.

"Pot, meet kettle," Dromarch joked.

"Would you care to explain what that is supposed to mean, my good sir?"

"Have you looked in a mirror recently?"

Brandon started laughing, "Burn! First time Gramps has ever been burned. Haha! Finally!"  
-

"H-hi, Pyra…" Brandon heard Rex stutter nervously. Brandon laughed as he walked over to the table where Nia and Tora were already sitting. He and Tora took turns explaining what had happened as Nia had just awoken to shrieking. Their table became rowdier and rowdier as Nia started laughing so hard she started hiccuping in between gasps for air. Rex shot a glare over to their table which just made the group laugh even harder.

-  
A light suddenly started shining out of Rex's bag.

"This light... What is it?" Rex rummaged around before pulling out the source. "Roc's Core Crystal?! It was like a stone. What happened?!"

"How bad is your memory, don't you remember? Vandham told you. Core Crystals don't "die". They always regenerate after a while."

"Regenerate?"

"Ready to be reawakened by a new Driver," Nia elaborated.

"So...if I resonated with it now…"

"Then a new Roc would be born into this world," Dromarch finished.

"A new Roc…" Rex contemplated, holding the core crystal out in front of him. "Vandham's Blade…"

"What do?" Their Nopon companion asked.

"I'm not sure," Rex responded. "Taking Vandham's old partner... It just doesn't feel right."

"Yeah, but maybe he would have wanted you to do it," Nia looks at Rex's distant eyes, "Ugh, you know what, just do whatever."

"Right…"

"Probably time we headed for the ship, right?"

"Oh, right," Rex snapped out of his stupor.

"I'll go ahead and grab us seats," Nia said.

"Nia, do we really need to rush?" Pyra asked.

"Sure, we could take our time. And miss out on the good seats!" She sprinted forward, then nearly collided with a young Gormotti as he ran by."

"Oops," Nia said, twisting around, barely avoiding the kid.

"Ow!" Rex grabbed his side as the kid did collide with him. "What was that kid's problem?" He turned to see the hastily retreating form.

"Rex! Your bag!" Pyra covered her mouth in horror.

"Huh?" He said in confusion then started feeling around. "No!" He yelled as a particular rock was missing from his bag.

"What've you lost now?" Nia sighed as she crossed her arms, walking back up to the group.

"Roc's Core Crystal! It's not here!" Rex shouted in shock.

"You mean that little blighter...?!" Nia suddenly put two and two together.

"God damn it!" Brandon shouted, "why are there always pickpockets." He shook his head, "that's why I made you a backpack like mine but you never took it, whatever, after that kid!"

"Titan's foot!" Rex exclaimed in dismay as he started sprinting.

"That little thief looked pretty young, right?" Nia asked as they slowed to a brisk walk on the lower docks.

"Yeah. And those ears. Gormotti for sure," Rex observed. Brandon opened his mouth to throw a jab at Rex but snaps his jaw shut when he sees the look in Rex's eyes.

"So let's see," Nia throws a cursory glance around, "There! That's the brat!" She pointed to the only other Gormotti in the crowd.

They see the kid shove past a worker on the docks and steal into the ship. The next thing they know, the ship had taken off of the docks and had already started sailing.

"Why, that little...! He stole the whole ship!" Nia exclaimed in disbelief.

"What now?" Pyra asked.

Rex pointed to the next dock down, "Over there! Garram!" He yelled at the man as he sprinted over.

"Hey, Rex, Brandon," he nodded in greeting. "What's the big hurry?"

"Lend me your boat!" Rex asked, desperation leaking into his voice.

"What? I mean, sure, but why?" Garram asked in bewilderment.

"There was a pickpocket! Took our Core Crystal! Over there!" He pointed at the rapidly fading ship.

"Over there?" Garram turned around. "Why, that's Pittman's ship! Your thief's on board that thing?"

"Yeah," Brandon said, "c'mon man."

"All right, then! The key's in the slot, so you can take her right out!" Garram said.

"Thanks! I'll bring her back as soon as I can!"

"No worries! Go get 'em, Rex!" The group sprinted aboard the ship, Brandon frantically made quick checks around the mechanical components while Rex started the ship.

"That the ship!" Tora pointed as they pulled into the docks on Gormott.

"Yeah, no doubt about it. This is where he got off," Rex said.

"He may still be somewhere nearby," Dromarch said.

"I doubt it," Brandon countered, "Torigoth's not that big, he's probably long gone by now."

"Hm," Nia hummed, "let's just ask around and see what we can find."

"Good plan!" Rex said.

"Same old same old," Brandon said, "I'll meet you guys back here, I've got to restock."

"Alright," Rex said, "try to find what you can."  
-

Brandon rushed back over to the docks with newfound information and resources. He sprinted over to his friends as they stood in waiting.

"Well?" Nia asked as he ran up.

"There's a guy," he panted, "he should be able to point us in the right way, we just need to find some footprints."

Rex nodded, "right, take us to him!"

"Damn, this kid's got a pair of lungs on him, and legs," Brandon panted as they made their way over to the rear of the titan.

"If we're on the right track, he should be around here, yeah?" Nia said, less winded than the out of shape Brandon.

"Is that Umon's?" Brandon realized, "uh, how do we explain the ship?"

"No need to worry about such thing now!" Tora exclaimed, "thief using Umon's workshop as hideout. I never dream of such a thing!" They sprinted into the boathouse to see a group of kids talking amongst themselves in a corner of the large hangar like area..

"That's him. Let's surround them so he can't run."

Brandon nodded as they took up position.

One of the kids in the group noticed Rex and pointed to him. The thief turned around, "Ahh! You lot!"

"Kid! You sure led us on a merry chase. You've wasted a lot of our time, you know."

"Dammit!" The kid muttered.

"Look at you. You're only kids. Why don't you just give back what you took? We'd rather not hurt you or anything," Rex tried to reason.

"You're basically a kid yourself!" The young Gormotti shot back.

"Oi, I'll have you know I work for a living. Right, hand it over."

"N-no! You're not having it! The Core Crystal is ours now! If you want it so bad, you'll have to take it by force!" The kid whistled and a flock of Tirkin showed up, taking position around the kids.

"Well, nothing for it, I guess. All right! Let's go!" Rex said drawing his sword. Brandon held up a hand. Rex looked at him in confusion as Brandon just smirked. He fired up his gauntlets and with a flick of his finger, sent a bolt of electricity that passed through each of the birds, shocking them and knocking them out.

Rex looked at Brandon with a raised eyebrow as he walked forward and wrenched Roc's core crystal out of the kid's grasp. "Well, we took it by force. Just like you wanted us to."

Rex then took a closer look at the kids. "Titan's foot, you're all barely ten years old. Why are you stealing from people?"

The kid kept his jaw sealed shut.

"Look, keeping your traps shut won't help anyone," Nia said harshly, then let out a burst of air as Brandon elbowed her gut, hard.

"It wouldn't kill you to be nicer," Brandon said pointedly.

"Why? They're only petty thieves," she countered, rubbing her belly,

"They're still kids," Brandon said, "you don't know why they're doing this."

"Speaking of reasons," Rex said, picking up on Brandon's train of thought, "I'm sure there's a reason you're doing all this, are you just that hard up?"

"What do you take us for?! We're not some poor beggars!" One of the kids retaliated.

"OK, so it's not money you're after." Rex stated.

"Then what the hell is it they want?" Nia said in annoyance only to receive another elbow to the gut.

"You should just tell everything. Rex-Rex not hurt you," Tora chuckled, as if the kids were silly for not knowing this.

Still no response.

"C'mon," Rex prompted again.

"We want revenge," the lead kid finally spoke up.

"Revenge?" Rex asked.

"We're gonna avenge our village!"

"You don't mean... You were planning to awaken this Blade and use it? Why don't you tell us the whole story? We might be able to help."

"We lived in a small, peaceful village. But the bad men... Just because we had water, they…" One of the kids looked like he was going to burst into tears.

"Did anyone survive?" Nia asked looking into the kid's eyes, "don't tell me...you're the only ones?"

"What's your name?" Rex asked.

"Me? Why d'you wanna know?"

"Please, kid?"

"It's Rhys. From Cordell Village."

"Cordell Village... Can't say I've heard of it," Nia said.

"It's just a tiny village on the outskirts of Gormott. Not many people know it," Rhys said.

"OK, Rhys. I get why you did this. But still, it's not right to steal from people. Besides which, awakening a Blade is dangerous. Do you know what happens if it fails?"

"You never know until you try! Long as one of us manages it, that's all that matters."

"Sounds like you really were desperate, my boy. I assume then that you know the whereabouts of these bandits?" Gramps reasoned.

"There's a big cave over on Twin Trunks Hill. They use it as a hideout."

"Oh! Rhys! It's awful! Those scum are gonna-!" A Gormotti child burst into the boathouse and stopped at the sight of older strangers, "Who are they?"

"Don't worry about them. What's the matter?" Rhys prompted.

"R-right, OK... The bandits are planning to attack Torigoth!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. We overheard one of their men talking about it in the city just now."

"And it was definitely one of them?"

"It looked like they were scouting the place out. They were saying with the consul gone, now's the perfect chance to take advantage."

"Are you trying to tell me that idiot consul was actually good for something?" Nia said in disbelief. Brandon's raised eyebrow mirrored the disbelief.

"So...this all our fault?" Tora said dejectedly.

"Well... Yeah, I guess we might have been the trigger," Rex said.

"We can't sit by and let this happen," Rhys clenched his fists.

"Agreed. Right, you lot! You can leave those nasty bandits to us." Rex stepped forward.

"Wh-what?!"

"I swear. We'll avenge your village," Rex said, determination in his voice.

"But…"

"Don't worry," he shot the kid a grin, "we've got this. Oh right, name's Rex. Rhys, take the others and go warn the city guard."

"Warn them about the bandits?" Rhys asked.

"Better not," Brandon said, "probably wouldn't believe you. Tell them instead the guys who destroyed the water tower are hiding out at Twin Trunks Hill."

"If you say so...but why?"

"Don't worry, you'll see. We're counting on you, Okay?"

The kid nodded and rounded his group up as they sprinted out.

"What the." Rex said in dismay as the group encountered another ether Miasma.

"Well, this is quite the unhelpful obstruction," Dromarch said.

"Thank you, captain obvious," Brandon snarked.

"Hey, isn't this the same as that thing we saw in the blowhole? With Vandham?" Nia observed.

"Indeed, it seems to be the same phenomenon," Gramps agreed.

"Then we just need a little help from Roc!" Rex said as he fished said core crystal out of his bag. He looked at it for a moment, "Vandham, mate... Hope this is OK." He clenched the core crystal tightly. A light started shining from the crystal as Roc started to take shape.

"All right!" Nia exclaimed.

"What's up Roc?" Brandon cheered as he raised a fist. The bird like blade swiftly brought his own fist up and tapped it to his without hesitation.

"So you are my new Driver," Roc said as he looked at Rex, "bit of a scrawny one, if you ask me, but ah well. It's good to meet you."

"He talks kind of like Vandham, huh?" Nia said.

"Vandham? Who is that?" Roc tilted his head.

"Oh, right... You wouldn't remember, since you've been reawakened now. He was your old Driver," Nia informed.

"My old Driver? Ah, so my core was passed down to you."

"We coulda...stolen it," Nia said, thinking back to the group of Gormotti kids.

"I didn't sense any guilt in your words," Roc said simply.

"Hmm...you're a perceptive one, all right. Yes, you take after your old master in more ways than one," Gramps observed.

"Listen, Roc. We need your help. Reckon you could clear the way for us?"

"This stuff? Of course. Nothing simpler." Roc simply flew up into the air, flapping his wings hard and easily dispersed the Miasma.

"Wow! That hardly took any time at all!" Rex exclaimed.

"Hmph. I did say it was a simple task."

"Thanks a bunch, Roc!" Rex thanked, then noticed the quizzical expression on Roc's face.

"Roc?"

"Tell me something. My previous Driver…"

"Vandham?" Rex filled in.

"Yes, this Vandham. What kind of a man was he?"

"He was incredibly strong. He looked kind of scary, but he was kind, too… And he saved my… our lives. It's thanks to Vandham that we're all standing here now."

"I see… Then I think I'd better protect you all too."

"Huh?"

"To carry on my Driver's will as best I can… That's the path I feel best befits a Blade."

Brandon shot Roc a grin, "sense of duty eh? Looks like Vandham really rubbed off on you."

"So what's the plan? Looks like there's quite a few of 'em, and they have Blades too," Nia hissed between her teeth, spying on the group of bandits.

Brandon smirked.

"I know that look," Nia said, "you always do that when you're plan is to just go in and beat them up."

Brandon gave her a look. She raised her hands, "hey, I'm not saying that you're wrong on this one.

"Just remember, we're not here to kill anyone, so mind you don't go overboard," Rex drilled.

"Was Rex-Rex not going to avenge village?" Tora asked.

"Yeah," Brandon agreed, "by making sure they only ever see the light of day again through prison bars."

"Well, if you say so," Nia said.

"Right. Let's go!" Rex stood up from his hiding spot, "all of you put down your weapons! You're not going to harm that city!"

"Who the hell are you punks? We ain't got time for a bunch of kids!" One dismissed.

"Hold it! They're Drivers and Blades!" another said, "now I get it... The city hired you, huh?!"

"You said it, not us," Brandon pointed.

"Bah! How'd you find out about… Whatever. Hey, lads!" he called the rest of the bandits over. "Let's slaughter these brats! We'll make an example of 'em!"

"Yeah!" The other two took position behind the lead.

Brandon looked over at the others. "I've got the leader." He charged forward, gauntlets already taking shape. He threw the first punch, easily knocking the bandit backwards. He followed up with an uppercut to the guy's jaw and right hooked him across the face. The bandit went out like a light, not even having able to throw one swing.

Nia walked up to him, "well, we managed to beat them pretty easily, all right. But what now?"

"Ah, right on time," Gramps looked over to see a group of Ardanian soldiers running up to the bandits' hideout.

"Oh, I get it," Nia realized, "that's why you asked the kids to call them here."

"I thought you realized that after I said the whole behind bars thing. I don't normally approve of the Empire but these guys deserve to be locked up."

"Leaving them to the authorities... A wise decision." Dromarch said.

"Yeah, though we should probably get out of here," Brandon said already starting towards the exit, "I doubt the soldiers will differentiate us from the bandits."

"Yeah, let's move!" Rex agreed, following after Brandon hastily.

"So you see, considering the situation, could you let them off the hook?" Rex asked Garram and Pittman back at the docks of Argentum.

"Hmmm. I'd hate to deny a request from you, Rex, and I can see these kids've had a hard time… What d'you think?" Garram looked over at the older man.

"Well...I suppose I did get my ship back safe and sound." Pittman said.

"Hey, how about this? Make them work for the Guild, and get them to work off what they owe that way?"

"Wha...?!" Rhys grunted in confusion.

"These brats? Are you saying...we should make salvagers of them?"

"I think they show a lot of promise! They've got pretty quick fingers - right? Come on, you know it makes sense. They're poor little orphans with nowhere to go! Are you really just gonna turn them away?"

"You sure know how to twist a guy's arm... All right, I'll do it! I'll sort out the details with Pupunin. But it's just bed and board for now, got that? If you want paying, you prove yourselves first!"

"You hear that? I hope you don't mind…" Rex chuckled.

"Wow…" Rhys said in disbelief, seemingly having his original mentality fade away much like Nia's had all those days ago.

"Right, then! Work hard, you rascals!"

 **Brandon will elaborate more on his past later. Please leave a review/pm to be a beta reader. Looking back on all my errors is just making me cringe. Plus I don't think I'm really doing justice to any of the characters so some advice there would help immensely. Also whew, long chapter but I needed to get this one out of the way. Sorry about the late update.**


	11. Chapter 10: Ardanian Empire

**I read through my last chapter and hoo boy it is chock full of mistakes. I'm going to finish this arc for Tora then there's going to be a lull in chapter updates as I go back and edit previous chapters. I'm going to fix the last chapter first as I forgot to put something in that is going to be important later on. I'm going to fix punctuation and grammar mistakes as well as change up some dialogue to make it seem more authentic. Plus some of the formatting got messed up in translation so I'm going to have to fix that. Although for sure this arc is definitely going to be more of the same with Brandon just shoehorned in. It's really the next arc that will actually be original as Brandon separates from the main group.**

 **Plus I read through that new fic, A Purpose for the Gift of Life and dang, that writer portrayed Nia really well. Yes I do read other fics on this website. Yes not all of my ideas are original. My story at the moment seems like an amalgamation of half the things on this website even to me.**

 **Answering reviews:**

 **RedBurningDragon: Oh lol, totally misinterpreted what you were saying, well he tried his darnedest but forgot about the battery which again will be covered later (he also built it out of old phone batteries which idk if I'll even directly mention so I'm going to say it here just in case.) I would have made the fight longer but I'm honestly rushing through the first few arcs because I do really want to get to some original arcs. Sorry about the relatively late update.**

 **On with the show!**

"So this is the imperial capital," Rex whistled as he took an appreciative look around.

Brandon grumbled under his breath. "If you're okay with it being from conquering others." Rex heard and decided to ignore Brandon's indecipherable complaining as he focused on the positives.

"Such a big city! Maybe there places selling rare junk parts for upgrading Poppi!" Tora eyes gleamed in anticipation of saving more money, "time to go look!"

"Masterpon," Poppi almost whined, "Poppi would rather use new parts if possible."

"Meh meh!" a turquoise Nopon's voice suddenly called from the side, "is that you there, Tora?! Have not seen Tora in long time! Remember me - Muimui?"

"Hm? Why random old guy know Tora's name?" Tora scratched his head with a wing in confusion.

"Oh... Tora not remember me at all! It Muimui!" the Nopon said in hopes of jogging Tora's memory, "I was assistant of Professor Soosoo, your Grampypon!"

"Ohhhh! You that old Muimui guy?" Tora said, "of course Tora remember! Muimui should have said to start with."

"Muimui did say," the Nopon huffed.

"Oh, right! Muimui not very interesting," Tora said frankly, giving up the pretense of remembering "so Tora forgot he exist."

Brandon sighed as he pinched the top of his nose. "You can't just say that to someone's face."

"No no, I do not blame Tora," Muimui assured, "Tora was very young back then. Not surprising he forget."

"Besides, Masterpon was quite distracted just now," Poppi added on further, "only thinking of how to upgrade Poppi."

"Why, could it be?" The Nopon looked over the robot in a newfound excitement, "this look like artificial Blade!"

"Muimui right!" Tora exclaimed, proud of his accomplishemnt, "Tora studied Grampypon and Dadapon's blueprints carefully and finished construction!"

"How wonderful!" Muimui then took on a wistful look, "if only Professor Soosoo still here to see results of hard work!"

"Muimui," Tora suddenly said as a thought entered his head, "you have any idea where Dadapon went?"

The turquoise Nopon sighed with regret, "that day, when the lab was attacked, Muimui was out on errand. When I got back, Professor Soosoo's body was lying there. But there was no sign of Professor Tatazo."

Tora looked down dejectedly, "I see... Even Muimui not know…"

"Do not feel down, Masterpon. We will find Dadapon someday," the artificial blade's voice then took on a more robotic tone as if to reciprocate for the unbased claim, "though no evidence for this hypothesis."

"Anyway, Muimui apologize for interrupting your trip when you just arrived in city. Friend of Muimui run an inn just up ahead. Place with famous hot springs. If you like, Muimui can try to get you discount!" The Nopon offered help in the only way Nopons know how to, with monetary incentive.

"Muimui is best friend!" Tora exclaimed in delight, the shrewd Nopon obviously having reconsidered his opinion of his grandfather's assistant. The turquoise Nopon gestured at the group to follow him as he led them across the city to the aforementioned inn. He talked to the worker at the front desk and managed to obtain a good sized discount for their large party. Even Brandon who had long since stopped caring about money, had given a small sigh of relief as the prospect of saving some money for later on.

"Ahhhhhh," Nia sighed as she slipped into the hot spring, "that feels good."

"Such wondrous bliss," Poppi agreed, "makes aching of journey melt away."

"Hang on," Nia looked over at the robot quizzically, "should you even be in the bath? Won't you rust or something?"

"There no problem," Poppi answered "Poppi made from special alloy. No rust or need for oil!"

"Tora thought of everything, huh?" Nia propped an elbow up onto the ledge.

"Masterpon is finest artificial Blade maker in all the world," Poppi stated, no hesitation in her voice.

Nia's ears twitched as she settled back into the water, "hey, Pyra," she greeted the familiar footsteps. "Come on in, the water's great…" she gave a start as she looked back to see a shock of blonde, rather than red, hiar. "Wait, Mythra?! Huh?!"

"Is there a...problem?" The blonde Aegis asked.

"I... I guess not, but…" Nia stuttered, looking up and down Mythra's body with slight envy, "n-nice bod you've got there."

"Thanks," Mythra said as a light started glowing from her core crystal as she changed back into the more familiar red headed girl.

"When I told her there was a hot spring here, Mythra was dead set on trying it out," Pyra gave a small teasing smile at the expense of her sister. Her core crystal gave another flash as she turned back into her blonde haired counterpart.

"So...here I am," Mythra declared. She took off the towel covering up her body as she slipped into the steaming water, giving a stretch of satisfaction. Nia sweatdropped.

"Must be interesting for you guys…" Nia said awkwardly. She relaxed for another couple minutes before standing up. "I think I'm heading out now."

Mythra looked over at the Gormotti girl. Shock filled her eyes as she took in something. "Nia, are you?"

"Mm, well... Yeah." Nia subconsciously turned her body slightly.

"Do you want us to keep this quiet?" Mythra asked as Nia had yet to reveal it to the rest of the group.

"I'd appreciate it, yeah. For now."

"Understood," Mythra nodded then flashed a small thumbs up, "you got it."

"Thanks." Nia said appreciatively.

"Whew, that was a good bath," Nia stretched appreciatively, dressed back up in her unique jumpsuit.

"Mythra seem very pleased," Poppi observed.

"Well, it was my first bath in 500 years," Mythra replied in her snarky voice, "I think I have the right to savor it."

"Can you just switch whenever?" Nia asked.

"With Pyra? Of course." Mythra then proceeded to change into Pyra to prove the point.

"Our memories are shared, so it doesn't really matter to us that much who takes control," Pyra explained then turned back into Mythra.

"Huh. Sounds pretty handy." Suddenly a rumbling went through the entire inn. The girls sprinted over to the guy's room, whom were all clamoring to look out the window, except for Brandon who looked like he was shaken out of his bed.

"Hey, what the hell was that?!" Nia exclaimed.

"I cannot say," Dromarch stated. "It sounds like some kind of disturbance."

"Let's find out. Come on!" Rex said as he turned around. He made a sound of confusion as he spotted Mythra.

"What's that look for?" Mythra crossed her arms.

"Oh, I was just - surprised to see you." Rex said sheepishly.

"You'd rather I was her?" Mythra asked.

"I-I didn't mean it like that…" Rex shoved the foot he already put in his mouth even further.

Mythra harrumphed. Brandon started leading the way as the group made their way to the balcony. Brandon immediately ran to the railing, Rex quickly joining him, to look over the tall buildings to see if he could find the source of the disturbance.

"Hey, can I ask something?" Mythra suddenly spoke up.

"You need permission now?" Rex snarked as he looked at her over his shoulder, "yeah?"

"Do you mind if I stay like this for the time being?" she asked.

"Like this? You mean as Mythra?" Rex asked.

"It hasn't been long since I woke up, and this is all new to you. We need time to adjust to using my power," Mythra explained. Her core crystal then flashed as red particles flew off her body.

"She and I talked it over together," the redhead said, "Mythra's power is much stronger than mine, but it has its limitations. It can be difficult to use in tight spaces. It might be best if you get used to using her in different situations."

"I mean, I don't mind at all," Rex said with a smile on his face, "I'd like to learn more about you, too."

"Wh-what's that supposed to mean?" Mythra stuttered as she changed back, "I don't see how I'm any different from her, really."

"Really?" Rex asked, a touch of sarcasm in his voice as he raised an eyebrow, "you can certainly be more touchy sometimes."

"W-well, that's just who I am! What do you expect me to do?!" Mythra replied touchily.

"You see what I mean?" Rex said, feeling vindicated.

Mythra threw Rex a harsh glare. "What's that smile for?" She snapped.

"No, I just thought...it's been fun lately," Rex explained "a lot's happened since meeting Pyra. And now I've met you too."

"A lot of that stuff can't have been easy, though," Mythra countered, "so why the smile?"

"Even rough patches can be valuable experiences. Is that so weird?" Rex asked in return.

Mythra sighed, "always the optimist…"

"Gramps gets mad at me for being TOO positive sometimes," Rex chuckled sheepishly.

"More like all the time," Gramps said, sticking his head out of Rex's helmet.

Brandon jerked backwards and bumped into Rex as the building rumbled again.

"I think that was from over there!" Brandon pointed off in to the distance.

"I think so!" Rex responded.

"Gah!" Brandon swerved as he rounded the corner, nearly tripping over the bodies of unconscious Ardanian troops.

"What the-?" Rex exclaimed spotting a silhouette. "Who's that?"

"Meh?" Tora exclaimed as Poppi activated her eye flashlights and illuminated the figure, revealing a mechanical being, very similar in appearance to Poppi. "L...Lila?" Tora stuttered in astonishment. The robot took no notice of the Nopon as she simply turned around, activating her jetpacks that had been fashioned as hair, and took off, leaving the group in the dust.

"Wait!" Tora hopped a couple steps forward into the fastest sprint the Nopon had ever run in his life, "Lila!"

"Wait up," Rex shouted as he broke into a run to catch up to the stubby Nopon, "Tora!"

"Not here," Tora mumbled as he came to a stop, "where did she go?"

"Tora, wait up!" Brandon panted as he stopped beside his Nopon companion. "Do you know who that was?"

"She seemed somehow similar to Poppi," Gramps astutely observed.

"It was… Lila," Tora finally answered.

"Lila?" Rex asked in Brandon's stead as said scientist was stooped over, heaving at the physical exertion.

"The artificial Blade Tora's Dadapon and Grampypon were making," Tora explained, "Tora recognize her anywhere."

"Masterpon, there an ether furnace reading nearby," Poppi informed then pointed, "up there!"

Tora looked up, confirming what he already knew, "Lila! It is you!"

"Ether furnace reading detected. Initiating protocol," the more mechanical voice of Lila stated as she flew down, ready to fight the group. Everyone took a defensive position as they drew their weapons. Lila made the first move, firing a cluster of small seeking missiles that flew toward the group rapidly. Brandon, having been taken off guard, barely managed to trigger his missile defense matrix, a grid of lasers flying out of his gauntlets with pinpoint accuracy, each striking and disabling it's target causing the missiles to miss and clater harmlessly to the floor. Seeing her attack countered so easily, Lila decided to change tactics, rocketing up for close combat with her jetpack. Everyone split apart like the Red Sea, each aware and extremely wary of the power that a robot could pack behind it's fists.

While the jetpack made Lila fast, it did not make her maneuverable, causing her to charge at each member with wild abandon like a bull seeing red. She did not manage to connect once. Taking advantage of the simple strategy employed by the robot, Brandon took a couple free electrically charged shots at the robot while it made a pass at him. He scoffed at the poor design as a small part of the electric flow slid up into the fuel tank, igniting the rest of the fuel in Lila. While sturdy enough to easily survive the blast, especially one triggered by so little fuel, Lila still lost her mobility, making her an easily target for the rest of the group with slow moving and clumsy strikes. Everyone seemed to realize this at the same time.

"Probability of success falling. Switching to strategic retreat mode," the robot declared as it turned around toward a gated area. It used it's powerful hydraulics in its legs and easily bounded over the thick metal gate, leaving Brandon's crew on the other side, unable to give chase to the fleeing robot.

"Lila, wait!" Tora exclaimed but the robot had already disappeared from sight. Without a moment of hesitation, Brandon sprinted at the gate, easily clambering up the gate and jumped down to the other side, rolling as he landed and smoothly transitioned into a sprint. Everyone else followed but it took them some more time to get over the gate than Brandon.

Brandon panted as he sprinted, now in his comfort zone of sprinting but not marathoning, knowing that if he just ran fast enough to catch up to the robot the torture that was running would be over faster. He finally made it to a large open section of the city. He looked around but saw no sign of the artificial intelligence. He groaned as he realized that he had lost Lila in the crowd.

"Ether furnace reading lost," he hear Poppi declare behind him, "it seem she has escaped."

Brandon whirled around to the group who had caught up to him. He approached the Nopon menacingly. "Explain," he stated, winced at his own hypocrisy, but chose to ignore it for now.

"Long time ago," Tora said, "Grampypon Soosoo and Dadapon Tatazo were working on her. Her name was Lila. Grampypon and Dadapon and Tora all wanted to become Driver. However, not single one of us have potential. So we decide to work together and make artificial Blade. Blade even we can use! But then…" He trailed off, looking wistfully off into the distance.

"Lab was attacked, Tora sure that they there to steal Lila and blueprints for artificial blade." Tora looked more certain than he had before. "After that, Tora hide out in Torigoth city. Making Poppi based on blueprints and ether furnace Dadapon left for Tora."

"Don't you have any idea who the attackers were?" Mythra asked.

"Tora not know who, but they definitely wanted to steal Lila," the Nopon repeated.

"If it was Lila they were after, how'd she end up here in the Empire? It looked like there were imperial soldiers after her," Nia recalled.

"Tora have no idea. But one thing is most confusing," Tora stated.

"That is?" Brandon prompted.

"When bad guys attacked the lab, Lila was not finished. There only one who could finish making Lila: Dadapon Tatazo!" Tora declared, excitement in his voice.

"Which means…" Rex trailed off in amazement.

"Tora's father must still be alive somewhere?" Gramps finished for him.

"Dadapon must be held captive by whoever using Lila," Tora deduced.

"You there! Don't move!"

"Is it me or does this seem familiar?" Brandon sighed as he activated his gauntlets.

"Imperial soldiers," Gramps said, worry in his voice.

"You!" Nia gasped as the familiar face of the Special Inquisitor came into view.

"So we meet again, Driver of the Aegis," Mòrag said cordially at Rex.

"Lady Mòrag, she's the one. That mechanical girl took down our squad!" The soldier pointed at Poppi who raised her eyebrows in confusion.

"What?! Hang on a minute!" Rex waved his hands frantically in the air.

"Where the hell'd you get that idea?" Nia said in outrage.

"Unfortunately, they cannot tell difference between Lila and Poppi," Poppi stated sadly.

"So… Rex, was it?" The Special Inquisitor continued without waiting for a response, "Rex, I'm very disappointed to find you stooping to such lowly crimes."

"Lowly crimes?! What the heck?! I'm telling you, you've got the wrong guys!"

Brandon just sighed at Rex's naivety. "Rex, the Empire doesn't care." He kept his voice low, taking care to make sure that the Inquisitor didn't hear, "Remember Torigoth? They pinned down Nia with a half assed poster that looked more like Dromarch than her. I'm honestly shocked that they technically pinned the right person that time. This time just goes to show that they would have pinned anyone who was even remotely similar and they just got lucky." Brandon fired up his gauntlets, sending sparks of electricity running down them for as much of an intimidation factor as Mòrag whipping up flames.

Brandon didn't wait to fire a bolt of electricity at the empire's strongest blade - driver combo. The pair easily saw through his attack and split left and right, letting the beam simply drive through the middle. The Inquisitor took the opportunity to send her whipsword burning past. Rex jumps backwards, barely avoiding the scorching flames from the sword.

"Your skills have improved, boy!"

"Mythra!" Rex called.

"I know, I know. I won't use that power, OK? Let's stick to Foresight for this. If you really need to attack, I'll hand it over to Pyra."

"Thanks!"

"The Aegis has changed," Mòrag noticed, "what happened to her appearance? Answer me!"

"You want answers, then put the swords away!" Rex said, "what's wrong with you?" Rex blocked several more thrusts from her swords.

"I'll listen to your confession while you lie defeated!" Mòrag yelled, pride getting the best of her.

"Rex! After this Foresight, I'll switch to Pyra!" Mythra said,

"Understood!" Rex's eyes narrowed in concentration as he observed the Inquisitor's future movements.

"Impossible... He dodged it?" The Inquisitor exclaimed in shock.

"Now it's my turn!" Rex yelled as a light emanated from Mythra, signaling the change back to Pyra.

"Lady Mòrag! Look at the Aegis!" Brighid gasped.

"So you can change at will!" The Inquisitor observed.

"Eat this!" Rex yelled as he swung his sword, sending a massive blast of fire at the pair. Rex hesitated as the blast stopped just short of the Inquisitorial pair. "Pyra?" Rex asked, looking back over his shoulder..

"We can do this without hitting them," she said.

"Hah! It's like you read my mind," Rex faced forward again.

"Are you holding back on me again, boy?" Mòrag pointed her sword threateningly at the Aegis' driver.

"We just don't have any reason to fight you," Rex said, lowering his sword in response.

"Enough! Both of you!" A deep Nopon voice suddenly sounded.

"I know you," Mòrag said to the Nopon, "you're from the Argentum Guild's Intelligence Division."

"Lady Mòrag, stand down arms! These not the ones who infiltrate the facility and attack your soldiers."

"Then the culprit behind the attack… was not the artificial Blade standing here now. Is that right?" Mòrag pieced together.

"They very similar, but not the same," Niranira informed, "Niranira saw her with own eyes."

"I had a feeling we were being watched since our arrival," Dromarch said, confirming his earlier suspicion.

"I quite sorry for causing concern. Niranira has been auditing Argentum Trade Guild."

"Ah, so you were keeping an eye on us because we came in on a Guild ship," Nia deduced.

"How ironic that your suspicion should happen to prove our innocence," Dromarch joked.

"It appears I was too hasty in judging you. I should not have attacked you so suddenly. My apologies," Mòrag bowed down in apology, her soldiers following suit.

"N-no, that's fine. Nobody got hurt in the end. I'm just glad it all got cleared up now," Rex waved his hands hastily in the air.

"An apology from the illustrious Flamebringer? A rare reward in itself," Gramps said.

Brandon crossed his arms and harrumphed, "you're letting them off just like that? What if they had won, we'd be stuck in prison with no trial."

"I will do what I can within my own means to compensate you," Mòrag said, still bowing. "By the way, the culprit who fled the scene- might I ask what manner of connection you have with them? You must tell me all."

"Well, we think that artificial blade was built by Tora's father," Rex said, "we think he's being forced to do it."

"I see. It seems it would be best for all of us if we worked together for the moment," Mòrag said.

"Work with you," Brandon repeated in disgust.

"Indeed," Mòrag said, almost oblivious to the malice dripping off of Brandon's voice, "my goal is to capture the artificial Blade and track down the criminals behind its actions. And from what you just told me, those I seek likely have Tora's father held captive. Would you not say our interests align?"

"Well, it's definitely better to have her working with us than against us," Mythra said, We shouldn't take the power of Brighid, Jewel of the Empire, too lightly. If she went all out on me, even I wouldn't be able to hold back. And then… we'd burn this place to the ground."

Brandon crossed his arms.

"I am honored that the Aegis herself thinks so highly of me."

"You may not remember it, but... I've faced you a few times before. Let's just say it wasn't easy," she sighed, "but that's a story for another time. What do you say, guys?"

"I can't deny I'd rather avoid making an enemy of them," Nia admitted.

Brandon grumbled but didn't protest.

"All right, then. So, from this moment on I suppose we're allies!" Rex said optimistically.

"For the moment, I will return to the palace. If you learn anything new, please send word," the Inquisitor said, "I will instruct the palace guards to allow you audience with me."

"All right," Rex agreed. Brandon gave a sigh of relief.

"So we're not actually working side by side," Brandon said as they walked out of earshot.

"Why do you hate them so much?" Rex asked.

Brandon paused, "it's not that I hate them in particular, I hate what they stand for."

Rex looked puzzled, "I mean I'm not the biggest fan of war or conquest but you're hatred seems excessive."

Brandon gave Rex a pointed stare. "You know very well why I hold anger to the Empire."

Rex returned the stare. "All I know is that you refuse to say more than oh look at me I fought against an oppressive empire," he snarked.

"I…" Brandon trailed off

"Come to me when you're ready to talk," Rex said, "until then, you have no right to judge someone you don't know anything about." Rex huffed in annoyance and strode ahead, Gramps stuck his head out of Rex's helmet and the two seemed to bicker as well.

"What the hell was that all about?" Nia asked, "don't tell me you messed up buckethead."

Brandon scratched his head sheepishly, "I kind of went overboard with my disdain for the Empire, Rex called me out on it."

"Sheesh," Nia breathed, "I think you two have some issues to work out."

"Yeah," Brandon admitted, "we consider ourselves brothers you know? Means we bicker like siblings as well. We don't always see eye to eye."

"I can relate," Nia agreed.

"Urk, siblings," Brandon mocked groaned and the two laughed their way back to the inn.

"It sound like you have quite the adventure," Muimui said in response to Rex's story, "but it good that you work things out."

"Anyway, we'll see if we can track Lila down somehow ourselves," Rex said determinedly.

"I too will see if I can find any leads," the turquoise Nopon added on, "no matter what, Muimui and friends will find Professor Tatazo!"

"Alright," Rex rubbed his hands together as he addressed Brandon, seemingly over his anger earlier, "what's the plan? I doubt we can just ask around like we normally do."

"Hm," Brandon raised a hand to his chin in thought, "I mean we could, we'd just have to be specific about who we ask and what questions we use."

"Elaborate," Rex prompted.

"Easy, I'm getting to that part. Anyways, Tora?" The Morythan scientist turned to the Nopon engineer.

"Yes?" Tora responded.

"Do you know the materials that constitute Poppi?"

"Yes!" The Nopon responded excitedly, "Tora has all parts memorized to heart!"

"Alright then, whoever's built Lila would have used your dad's blueprints, meaning the same materials. My idea is that we go around and ask shopkeepers and suppliers. I'll head out with Rex and Tora, the rest of you look around for some clues."

"Right," they all respond as they rush to complete their assigned tasks.

"So," Rex started reporting back in the office of the Special Inquisitor, "It sounds like there's some kind of old factory out in the wastelands that all of the materials are being delivered to."

"I see," the Inquisitor brought a hand up to her chin in thought, "there was indeed once a factory there. However, it was abandoned some thirty years ago."

"So you think we've got 'em?" Nia asked.

"We can't be certain unless we investigate," Mòrag sighed while Brandon started.

"We'll go!" Rex said stepping forward.

"You?"

"We won't do anything reckless," Rex almost pleaded as if a child to a parent, "if it seems dangerous, we'll turn back. How's that sound?"

"Hmm," the Special Inquisitor contemplated, "to tell the truth, it would be difficult for me to dispatch the military so quickly. Would you?"

"Sure thing!" Rex exclaimed.

"Now, let me share what information I have found," the Inquisitor said, "there are rumors about town that an esteemed Nopon merchant is involved in this affair."

"An esteemed Nopon merchant," Brandon and Rex shot each other a look

"Chairman Bana?" Brandon asked, addressing Mòrag without an ounce of loathing in his voice for the first time.

"Well, we're currently searching the transaction records. If we find anything, we will inform you," Mòrag said reasonably.

"Pretty busy huh?" Rex asked.

"I don't deny it. I will head to the location myself as soon as I am able to mobilize some troops."

"All right, then!"

 **Again sorry for the late update, AP Physics has been kicking my ass pretty hard over the last couple days. Ugh, I feel so frustrated that I can't just go and let Brandon spew expositional dialogue and I feel like that's going to be shared by some readers. I really want to get into the original stuff to explore some of Brandon's background but it's taking me a long time to do that. Plus I want to go back and edit to fix a bunch of mistakes but that's also going to take time. Juggling this on top of school, life, eSports, etc is tiring. I'll try to get the next update up on Friday. I'm gone on a band trip all of Thursday so don't expect anything other than maybe a small edit I get up during school when I have some free time. Also dang, 2000 views, please leave a review so I know what to do for you to enjoy it. As much as I enjoy RedBurningDragon's reviews, it doesn't bode all too well that they're the main source of a review count.**


	12. Chapter 11: Ancient Enemies

**Jeez the band trip was a pain. I got back at like 11:30 with work still to do. So of course the logical decision is to immediately go and write some fanfiction.**

 **Answering Reviews:**

 **RedBurningDragon: Interesting idea, I wasn't really planning on upgrading the power suit too much as it would easily make any battle super one sided until like chapter 7. I was originally just going to have Brandon exposite the shit out of his old life but that could work too.**

"Yah!" Rex yelled, bringing down the Aegis blade onto the head of what must have been the fiftieth monster on the Ardanian wasteland, finishing it off.

"Phew!" Rex wiped the sweat off of his forehead, exhausted but still standing.

"How many of these things are there?" Brandon complained as he withdrew his energy blades. Between the sheer power of Mythra, the robotic strength of Poppi, and the energy blades of Brandon, none of the monsters had stood a chance, but there were still so many of them. Brandon panted in exhaustion as he stretched and popped his back, looking around and took in the view for the first time. His eyes widened in nervousness at the massive boulder balancing precariously on a ledge. He decided to walk to the side away from the boulder.

"So, we meet again, Aegis!" A boisterous voice suddenly called out as a certain chaos bringer made his appearance.

"Oh. It's Shellhead," Nia dismissed.

"Yes!" Zeke cried then the nickname processed, "wait, who's Shellhead?"

"As ever, your comic timing is exquisite," Dromarch chuckled.

"You will address me as Zeke von Genbu, Bringer of Chaos! Or Zeke! Or THE ZEKENATOR!"

"Make your mind up. And what the hell is a Zekenator, anyway?" Nia sighed at Zeke's antics.

"Hah! You may have been lucky last time, thanks to a certain unstable cliff… But this time round we meet on good old terra firma! If you think you can run from me a second time, you are quite mistaken!" Zeke exclaimed, dramatically drawing his sword again.

"Nobody did any running. And anyway, Shellhead?" Nia asked curiously.

"What?" Zeke asked.

"You answer to that now?" Zeke's blade facepalmed.

"I've been wondering for a while now…" Nia pointed at the goofy man, "but what's with the cutesy eyepatch?"

"Heh," he chuckled, "I'm quite glad you asked. This eyepatch conceals a power too great for mere mortals to comprehend. The Eye of Shining Justice!" Zeke struck several poses with his blade following along. "I am sworn to keep it sealed until its power is needed to save mankind. You should count yourselves lucky. It would turn you to ash in seconds!"

"Whatever you say, pal," Nia rolled her eyes

Pandoria suddenly took a few steps forward, "he definitely isn't wearing it because he didn't have the gold for a second contact lens," she retreated back to Zeke's side.

"How poor are you?" Nia exclaimed, "and are you THAT short-sighted?" Brandon sniggered as he recalled how his world had perfected vision correcting.

"By the by, what business might you have with us today?" Dromarch asked

"Are you thick? I'm here for the Aegis, obviously!" Zeke exclaimed.

"Listen, pal. I'm sorry, but we really don't have time to play with you today," Nia made a shooing motion with her hands, "so hurry on home, OK?"

"What's this?" Zeke crossed his arms in arrogance. "Were you so frightened by our power that you wet yourself, furry-ears?"

"Did I WHAT?" Nia exclaimed indignantly, "you've got a lotta nerve, you one-eyed monster!" Everyone's jaws dropped, except for Brandon who facepalmed at the immaturity of his friends, as she finished her sentence.

"N...Nia? You do know "one-eyed monster" usually means-" Rex stuttered out as Brandon facepalmed.

"Huh? Means what?" Nia turned to confront the young salvager.

"Um…" Rex blushed in embarrassment. "It's, ah…" Rex turned around, looking for a scapegoat, "Mythra, why are you blushing?"

"Shut up!" Mythra slapped Rex, hard.

"OW!" Rex cried as he went down. Brandon and Nia burst out laughing while for the first time, Zeke looked confused at their antics. He simply shook his head and struck another pose.

"Whatever!" Zeke cried, "prepare to face my fury!" Zeke charged, wielding his massive sword with impressive skill and precision despite his goofiness. Brandon grunted as he lifted his gauntlets up to block the sword blow. The two electrical fields surrounding the weapons of each respective combatant flowed into the opposing weapon. However the power of the blade easily overpowered the mechanically generated electricity which flowed into the gauntlets and shorted out the electrical system.

"Are you kidding me?" Brandon exclaimed in outrage. "Do you know how long it'll take me to recalibrate the circuits in these things?"

Nia huffed at him as she took his place countering the electrical sword strikes. "Fight now, bitch later." Brandon grumbled but complied, raising his gauntlets into a defensive position. He swapped out again with Nia, who immediately ran to help Rex and Tora fight Pandoria, and grabbed Zeke's sword. He maneuvered over, taking advantage of Zeke's surprise and socked Zeke in the gut as he planted the massive sword into the ground.

Zeke grunted as he stumbled back. "Pandy!" He exclaimed. She nodded at him as she rushed over and grabbed the handle of the sword. Brandon got ready to counter another sword swing but was taken aback when Pandoria slid the handle of the massive sword out and detached it from the blade. Brandon was still staring in shock when he was blasted to the ground as the blade let out a wave of electricity. Brandon groggily stood back up, eye twitching both from the electricity and confusion as to why he wasn't at least knocked out. He shrugged it off as Pandoria wrenched the sword out of the ground and tossed it back over to Zeke.

"You guys are even tougher than last time!" Zeke panted out, sounding genuinely impressed, "however, your luck ends right here. Here we go!" Zeke smirked as a massive electric blade came out of his sword. Hiyah! Bringer of Chaos!" Everyone flinched back.

"Ultimate Lightning Fury Slash...MAX!" He cried as a massive symbol burned itself into the ground with the sheer electrical power coming off of his sword.

"Come on!" Nia said sounding almost disappointed, "that was the same as last time!"

"Uh…" Brandon's eye twitched again as he heard rumbling. Everyone looked up to the massive boulder that Brandon had been wary of before as it shook. It teetered over the edge of the small cliff before falling and rolling toward the electrical pair. The two took off running and screaming.

"P-Pandy! Can't you do something?!" Zeke screamed as he sprinted for his life.

"Sorry sorry sorry!" His blade yelled back, "you know my element's lightning! I'm not cut out for this!" They jumped off the cliff at the edge of the land into the cloud sea to avoid the massive boulder which was flung out further into the cloud sea. Brandon just back at the others looking confused.

"Ugh," Nia groaned, "what idiots. C'mon!"

….

Brandon gestured to the others as he finished wiring up his repaired gauntlets to an old control panel, ordering the ladder down. He disconnected his gauntlets as he followed the group up the ladder as the tail. When he reached the top he joined the others looking into the factory which was running at full capacity. He looked in on the hyper-efficient assembly lines that were run completely by machines.

"Are all of these artificial Blades?" Rex asked in similar awe as he looked in on the assembly of mechanical chassis.

"Then Dadapon really must be…" Tora trailed off, to excited in the possibility to disappoint himself later.

"Hmmm... What exactly are they planning here?" Gramps asked to himself, "well whatever it is, it can't be good…"

Brandon hit a button on his collapsed metal wristbands. A small cylinder popped out and emitted a small but extremely powerful concentrated flame that he pressed to the window of the glass and drew a crude circle. He then left the welding light sitting over a spot until the glass glowed red. He activated his gauntlets and pushed a finger through the spot of molten glass and pulled the glass circle and placed it down as softly as he could. He shook the glass off of his gauntlets and deactivated them again as the group stepped carefully through the circle. They made their way across the catwalks and finally made it to a vent. Brandon went to work again but chose to be slightly less stealthy as he simply bent some of the metal, grabbed, and pulled the vent grid clean out. They crawled through the vents until they heard a loud shouting.

"Professor Tatazo! Speak, speak, you give orders! If productions get more slow, maybe you ready for sleep time with fishes." Tora gave a small gasp. The group looked down through another vent to see a… Tirkin yelling at a Nopon. Brandon scratched his head, you don't really see that every day, it's usually the other way around.

"Reduce load on neural circuits by 20%," The Nopon harrumphed, "that should improve production efficiency."

"See? It not so hard," the Tirkin mocked as it walked away. Brandon decided to give up the pretense of sneakiness and simply chose to punch the vent grate out and drop down, the rest of the group following suit. The moment they landed Nia slapped the back of Brandon's head. He turned around glaring with a retort ready but backed down at the flash in Nia's amber eyes.

The Nopon turned around and jumped in shock. "Ah! Could it be... Tora, that you?"

"You really Dadapon Tatazo?" Tora asked tentatively, as if one sudden movement would break the moment.

"Tora!" Tatazo exclaimed as he rushed over to his son and enveloped him in a hug.

"Dadapon," Tora said softly, returning the embrace, "Tora miss you so much!"

"I miss you too!"

"Ah, that's great," Rex gave a massive grin.

Mythra gave a sniffle. Rex turned around and just chose to give her a look and hand her a handkerchief rather than ruin the moment.

"Thanks." She blew her nose.

"Who all these people?" Tatazo asked as he took stock of the other people in the room.

"They Tora's sidekicks... I mean, sidek- I mean new friends!" Tora fumbled with his words.

"Wonderful. They come here for you? You have good friends." The Nopon engineer looked around and rested his eyes on one specific party member. "Oh! That artificial Blade!"

"This is Poppi!" Tora said with pride, "Tora make her by improving on blueprints for Lila!"

"Meh meh... Most impressive. Tora must have worked hard!"

"If I may," Dromarch stepped forward politely, "I know there is a lot of catching up to do, but perhaps we should escape!"

"Probably a good idea, Rex?" Brandon said pointedly.

"Right!" Rex said, making ready to leave.

"Not so fast, intruders!" A familiar reedy Nopon voice exclaimed.

"What?" Brandon said with disbelief.

"Don't tell me…" Nia looked up with Brandon.

"Really, now? You actually not realize it yet? Muimui give you information on purpose, to lure you to factory. If we not want you here, you would never find this place so easily!"

"Meh meh...! How dare you…"

"Grah!" Brandon yelled in an absolute rage.

"Meh... Finally I have chance to seize precious artificial Blade. Now! Take care of these intruders!" Muimui said, ignoring the bursts of rage from Tora and Brandon. The Tirkin rushed forward but Brandon ignored them as his vision tunneled onto the traitorous Nopon and went red.. He leaped over the Tirkin in a single bound, easily reaching the turquoise Nopon and started strangling him, fully intent on killing him.

"Brandon!" Rex yelled having taken care of the Tirkin. No response. Rex jumped up as fast as possible and tore the Nopon from his grasp. Brandon was shaken out of his stupor with that act. He looked down at his shaking hands as he collapsed to his knees.

"Did I…"

"H-how can you be so strong?" Muimui stuttered as he tried to bring some air back into his lungs.

"Now, we're going to need some answers. What were you people plotting here?" Nia demanded, stalking toward the Nopon.

"O-ordinary business!" The Nopon said in desperation, "we innocently mass-produce ether furnaces and artificial Blades, and sell to people who want them!"

"They threaten Tatazo, and force to participate in production process," Tatazo countered.

"So not only are you creating weapons to sell, weapon blueprints that you obtained by _betraying_ the person you worked with, you wanted to get your grubby hands on Poppi? You're lucky Rex stopped me from popping your damn head off." Brandon growled, clenching and unclenching his fists.

"I knew as soon as I saw her! That artificial Blade uses lost ether furnace designed by Professor Soosoo! That is why," the Nopon hastily explained in fear of Brandon's very noticeable gauntlets.

"You lured us out here to avoid making a ruckus in the city, is that it?" Nia said in outrage.

"Qu-quite right, yes," the Nopon stuttered, still staring at the gauntlets.

"Muimui was part of group plotting to steal artificial Blades all along. While he my Dadapon's assistant, he sell information to contact in Guild and had them attack laboratory," Tatazo said.

"What?! Then it all his fault that Grampypon was killed?" Tora exclaimed.

"Indeed it was," Tatazo agreed sadly.

"A contact in the Guild…" Brandon thought, "BANA!" He screamed.

"Indeed, it is I," the large Nopon revealed himself.

"M-Master Bana!" Muimui stuttered in fear.

"You never do finish job properly, do you? You manage to lure them all this way and then fail to capture them?"

Brandon growled.

"But I am nice Nopon. You brought not only artificial Blade to me, but even the Aegis itself! Once I have ether furnace of Professor Soosoo I can produce even better artificial Blades and make a killing! Then I sell Aegis too and make mountains of cash! Then I can feast on Mushy Mushrooms for life!"

"Chairman Bana!" Rex shouted, "I can't believe you would stoop to this!"

"You should show more respect after all the valuable work I find for you."

"So who are you planning to sell the Aegis to, anyway? Torna, I suppose?" Nia crossed her arms.

"How you know about Torna? Wait, I remember you! You one of Torna's Drivers! Wh-wh-what you doing here?! If you come for ether furnaces, they ready in ship outside."

"What?! You're selling THOSE to Torna as well?" Nia cried.

"Not sure what is going on," Bana said in confusion, "but I will just beat you all up. Lila! Take them all down!"

"Mission acknowledged. Commencing combat," the artificial blade stated as it flew into the room.

"All right!" Tora yelled in determination, "come on, Poppi!"

"As you wish, Masterpon!"

"Do not let her win, Poppi!"

"Of course, Masterpon!" Poppi tackled the other artificial blade, knocking her back and shattered her through the window.

"Comprehension error," Lila said as the two activated their jetpacks and started grappling in the air, "your integrated ether furnace is not fully activated. As an updated model, my energy throughput is superior."

"Energy efficiency not the problem here," Poppi informed.

The other robot tilted her head in confusion.

"Poppi's masterpon told Poppi not to lose. So Poppi will win. Very simple logic."

"Comprehension error," Lila said in confusion.

"And that is why you are failure," Poppi grabbed the other robot and threw her back into the control room, severely damaging the other robot.

"Lila!" Tatazo cried.

"Do it, Poppi! One more attack and she go down!" Tora exclaimed.

"W-wait! Wait one moment, please!" Tatazo jumped in front of the damaged robot right before Poppi could deliver the finishing blow.

"D-Dadapon...?"

"I sorry, Tora. Even if she no longer listen to me... Even if she become weapon for evil. Lila. Lila is all I have. Only reminder of Dadapon Soosoo. She is my treasure…"

"Comprehension… error…"

"What you think you are doing? No need to bother protecting yourself! Steal that ether furnace even if it destroys you!" Bana ordered the doomed robot.

"Li...la is…"

"You not need to listen to his orders, Lila!" Tatazo encouraged.

"Hurry and take it!"

"Lila's… Masterpon… is…" Lila stuttered as contradicting orders went through her cpu. "Lila's Masterpon… is Professor Soosoo… and… Professor… Tatazo!"

"What?" Bana cried as the device he held in his wings sparked and fizzed out. "She destroy control device on her own?"

"I very proud of you… sister."

"Poppi…" the other robot looked up in surprise..

"This not how it supposed to go!" Bana yelled, almost throwing a tantrum. "What happen to activation of Rosa?" He turned toward his assistant.

"She ready when you are!"

"Good. Do it!" The two ran over to an escape hatch in the wall.

"Oh no you don't!" Brandon cried as he bounded to catch the pair, and missed by a hair's breadth. Brandon growled in frustration.

"Brandon, Rex, let's find 'em!" Nia exclaimed, already halfway out the door.

"Tora! Poppi!" Rex said, "you take care of the Professor and Lila! We'll take down those scoundrels!"

….

"There!" Brandon exclaimed as he finally managed to get the damn blast doors open.

"Where's Bana? Where did he go?" Rex ran forward, looking around. The room suddenly started rumbling as a massive robot started rising from a hole in the ground.

"NOPON GO!" Two Nopon voices cried out of a loudspeaker.

"Wh...wha-wha-wha...what the hell is that?" Nia stuttered as she looked up to the massive robot.

"Activaaaaaate!" A Nopon cried as what looked like a giant maid hat locked into place on top of the robot's head, "docking complete!"

Bana laughed maniacally, "how you like that?! This is secret weapon based on blueprints of Lila... Gigantic Artificial Blade: Rosa! Ahahaha!"

Brandon looked up unimpressed. "So you made it bigger, big deal," he scoffed, "we'll take it down just the same."

Bana simply cackled in response, "you all bow before the power of Bana! Go get them, Rosa!"

Even Rex looked tired of the situation, "ugh... This is too ridiculous for words. Come on!"

The three of them charged at the mechanical monstrosity, Mythra and Dromarch providing support. However the metal that the giant robot was made out of was too powerful. Even with Brandon attempting to slice at it with his energy blades had no effect and the robot simply swatted him away. Noting that Brandon was now out of the fight, the robot launched a cluster of small rockets, blasting away at Rex and Nia.

Rex groaned as he unsteadily stood back up.

"It's too… strong for us…" Nia groaned.

"Allow me! I shall serve as a decoy," Dromarch said, ever faithful, "and then-"

"No, Poppi will take care of that," Poppi called out.

"Tora! Poppi!" Rex cried.

"Poppi?" Mythra asked in shock, "this energy's incredible!"

"Thanks to my sister Lila!"

"Now, Poppi!" Tora cried, "show them your real power!"

"Roger that, masterpon! Initiating QT Mode. Engage!" Poppi suddenly started transforming, every part of her mechanical body folding and unfolding.

"That..." Brandon said, standing back up with Nia's help, "was the most anime thing I've ever seen in my life."

"C-can it be?" Muimui stuttered from the cockpit of the massive robot, "she manage to fully activate ether furnace!"

"What?" Bana said in frustration, "Meh meh! No matter how much power she have, she still no match for mighty creation of Bana! Crush her, Rosa!"

The massive robot moved in to follow the orders but was immediately intercepted by Poppi flying into its face and easily punched it over. It tried desperately to stand back up but Poppi simply fired a barrage of missiles, completely disabling the massive robot.

"Hah!" Tora shouted in victory, "justice always prevail!"

"Masterpon, that enough gloating now," Poppi admonished then turned back to the massive robot, "now maybe you too won't be used for bad things any more."

"Hey!" Nia waved to grab the other's attention, "Bana's vanished again!"

Brandon yelled in frustration as he sprinted over to catch the large Nopon.

"Meh-meh-meh!" Bana said as he turned around, trapped against a corner. "you very persistent!"

"You need to learn when to quit!" Rex shot back.

"Stop producing artificial Blades!" Tora demanded, "you used Grampypon's research for evil long enough!"

"B-but that would mean financial disaster! How much you think I poured into this endeavor?"

"Oh, OK," Rex smirked, "we'll just hand you over to the Imperial Army, then. They'll be really interested in all the stuff you had Lila doing. And I bet that's not all they could dig up on you, is it?"

"Rex… I never had you down as such a conniving boy."

"Me? Look who's talking!"

"All right. I stop production of artificial urk-" Bana was cut off as blood exploded from the back of his head.

"Tsk, what a waste." Brandon froze in shock. The voice sighed, "looks like I'm going to have to do this myself."

"YOU!" Brandon screamed in rage.

"Hm," the voice responded nonchalantly, "I see you're still alive."

"HOW?!" Brandon yelled, "how are you still alive? I'm only here because I… ejected… from… space…" Realization dawned in his eyes, "the first low orbit station."

"Ding ding ding," the voice mocked, "someone give this man a prize."

"But then… that means… the world tree…"

"Brandon," Rex shook Brandon, "who the hell is she?"

"... Tina Van Alstein, she was my best friend, until she gave my tech to the Solar Empire." Brandon spat.

"The one and only," she smirked as she raised her gun.

Brandon quickly activated his armor as she fired, the round bounced off.

"Shit," she grumbled then started laughing. "Where was this tech when you needed it?"

Brandon screamed in outrage as he bounded forward, only for Tina to go invisible.

"What the hell?" Rex yelled in shock.

He crashed into the wall fist first as Tina decloaked. Brandon yanked his fist out of the wall and turned around.

"What do you want?" He demanded.

"Oh," she waved a hand dismissively, "I'm just here to check up on progress for a certain organization I work with."

Brandon's eyes narrowed behind the faceplate, "let me guess, Torna."

"Right on the money, again, nothing escapes you does it?"

"Brandon!" Rex called again, "what the hell is she?"

"I'm glad you asked," Tina said before Brandon could even open his mouth. "Spectre of the Solar Empire, well, formerly a spectre of the Solar Empire at your service," she mockingly bowed.

"Spectre?" Rex wondered.

Brandon walked back and took a stance beside Rex, "covert Imperial assholes, they do the Empire's dirty work."

She laughed, "and oh how fooled I had you!"

Brandon gritted his teeth, "didn't think that they recruited them so young, didn't think you'd be stupid enough to make alternative energy a weapon."

She smirked in response, not even dignifying Brandon with a verbal answer as she fired several rounds at the group. Brandon activated his jump pack and held up a gauntleted hand, blocking each bullet.

"Ha!" Brandon smirked for the first time during the battle, "where's your energy weapons, you know that kinetic rounds are useless."

Tina gritted her teeth in frustration.

"Just give up," she said, "you can't keep this up forever." She flipped backwards as a wall of blue flames sprung up.

"What? Blue flames?"

"Mòrag!" Rex exclaimed.

"Honestly... Did you not say you wouldn't be reckless?"

"Not my fault my past chooses to keep on haunting me," Brandon grumbled.

"Ah, the illustrious Flamebringer!" Tina taunted, "I'm honored."

"Mòrag, can you push them back towards that crane?"

"Do you actually have a plan, or is that too much to expect?"

"'Course! Have a little faith!"

"Wait what?" Brandon looked over confused, "you put together a plan while we were fighting?"

Rex just looked smugly back.

….

Tina growled as she stumbled backwards, the sudden appearance of the Flamebringer having caught her severely off guard.

"Let's surround them with a wall of flame," Mòrag said to Rex.

"Brighid and Pyra together?" Rex asked.

"We will attack from the left. Can you take care of the right?" Brighid said.

"All right, then! We'll try to match your timing! Then I'll switch to Mythra right away! Keep an eye on your sword's energy charge," Pyra told Rex.

"Yeah, got ya!"

"Here goes!"

She cloaked to try to escape but the wall of fire was already up, the extreme heat disabling the personal cloaking field and forced her backwards through the small passage that Rex created.

"Now!" Rex yelled.

Pyra quickly took her cue and transformed into Mythra as she jumped into the air and waved a hand, bringing down a beam of light onto the spectre which demolished the equipment and weapons that the spectre had on her.

Nia looked in disbelief as the beam faded and the only visible damage was the shattered gun. "No way... They're still standing after that?"

"No," Mòrag responded, "she calculated the precise power output required. That's the Aegis for you. Remarkable."

"Ah, you were aiming at her gear!"

"Bad guy all beat up too!" Tora exclaimed.

"Damn it," she muttered, "I can still take you all!" She yelled then paused as another figure entered the hangar. "First the Flamebringer and now the Goddess of the Praetorium herself. Looks like I'm outmatched." The spectre harrumphed. "Another day!" She called out as she jumped off the dock. A familiar ship then rose out of the cloud sea to catch her as it sailed away.

"The Monoceros was right there?!" Nia exclaimed in disbelief.

"No!" Brandon yelled in rage, "you're not getting away that easily!" He screamed as he rocketed forward then skid to a halt as the cannons popped out of the top of the Monocerus and started blasting away. Brandon flinched and looked away, bracing for the coming pain. He looked up in confusion when he felt none to see Nia smirking at him as Dromarch put up an ether shield.

"How many is that you owe me now?"

"Who's that?" Rex asked, turning his attention to the new arrival.

"Fan la Norne," Mòrag greeted.

"Goddess of the Praetorium... To what do we owe this pleasure?"

"...Did you say Fan?" Mythra asked in confusion.

"Indeed," Fan replied, "I am here as a special envoy for the Indoline Praetorium. Praetor Amalthus requests an audience, please come with me."

"You're joking," Rex said in disbelief, "what could the Praetor want with me?"

"The Praetorium manages every Blade and Driver in Alrest. And as you are the Driver of the Aegis…" Fan let the sentence speak for itself.

"The Praetorium wants that power for itself," Brandon finished in disgust, his hatred poorly disguised as he had de-equipped his armor.

"Not at all," Fan said, "the Praetor...would like to meet his fellow Aegis Driver. He wishes to speak to Master Rex. That is all.

"His fellow... You don't mean?"

"Indeed. The Praetor is Malos's Driver."

The group, aside from Mythra, blanched.

"There is another matter. I believe you currently have a certain dagger in your possession?"

"You know about that?"

"Why yes, I can tell. The Praetor is its original owner, after all."

Rex looked at the blade in shock.

'So the Praetor - he's Cole's Driver as well?" Nia asked.

"Yes," came the simple response.

"Come off it - just how old is he?"

"The current Praetor is Indoline. It's not that hard to believe," Mòrag said.

"The Indoline do live long lives," Dromarch agreed.

"Oh right... Well, that would explain why Cole said the dagger's owner would know how to get to the World Tree!"

"Well, what do you say? You certainly won't regret it. An audience with Praetor Amalthus is an honor."

Brandon crossed his arms, "count me out."

"What?" Rex asked.

"I've got better things to do than kneel to a religious fanatic."

"You're going after the spectre aren't you," Rex stated, already knowing the answer. Brandon had no response.

"Come on," Rex pleaded, "if she's with Toran we'll deal with her just the same as the others. Come with us to the Praetorium."

Brandon sighed, "let me sleep on it, we've had a long day." Rex nodded in agreement as they walked out after Mòrag to the palace quarters.

….

Brandon slipped out of bed as quietly as he could when everyone else had fallen asleep. He winced as the floorboards creaked under his weight. He cursed as he heard a scratching noise but sighed in relief as he looked over to just see Dromarch moving in his sleep. He tiptoed across the room and made it to the door and carefully opened it, stepped outside, and slipped it close without a sound.

"Where do you think you're going buckethead?"

 **Haha! Nia for the win! We're officially moving onto original arcs now!**


	13. Chapter 12: Brandon's Past

**Woohoo! Original content!**

 **Answering Reviews:**

 **RedBurningDragon: I mean he is a super genius, he could do it, maybe. Though even if he starts I doubt he'll finish in this story, maybe in a sequel. *wink***

 **He never thought about what the world tree could be, he essentially woke up in a fantasy world with memories of a sci fi past, he wouldn't really think much of a giant tree when he lives on giant creatures the size of small countries the swim around in clouds that act like water. The plot does indeed thicken. Also, if Torna didn't need the artificial blades to match Indol in the future I would have but we'll just have Brandon glance over it. Haha qtpi will indeed show up as well as a couple other blades but idk how to incorporate them atm.**

 **Guest: Oh right, that'll be explained in this chapter. :) Thanks, should fix that plot hole.**

 **C'mon people, more reviews, I like talking to readers.**

"Shit," Brandon cursed under his breath as he spun around, putting on his flashiest smile at the sight of Nia.

"Heeeyy Nia… fancy meeting you here..." He chuckled nervously.

She sighed, "didn't you tell Rex that you would decide in the morning?" She crossed her arms.

"Uh," Brandon stuttered, "I wasn't leaving…" He said unconvincingly, "I just… needed to go to the bathroom, yeah... that's right…" he trailed off at the no nonsense expression on Nia's face.

"Cut the crap," she said, "If Dromarch thought you were just going to the bathroom he wouldn't have signaled me." Brandon flinched back, he had really thought that Dromarch was just shifting in his sleep.

"Signal you?" Brandon then asked indignantly.

"Yeah," she responded, "cuz I knew you would try to pull something like this. You're not the sneakiest person. Nor are you a spontaneous person. I saw this coming from a mile away, Why would you do it?"

Brandon took a deep breath and sighed, "I need to stop Tina, for the sake of this world, whatever it takes."

"Mmhm, and no personal revenge involved?" She asked with an eyebrow raised, extremely accusatory.

"Well… maybe a little of that too," Brandon admitted, "but look. If she's working with Torna, she's using them. She's got her own plans, probably to rule the world, not destroy it."

"And you were planning on leaving without telling us?"

"..." Brandon was lost for words.

Nia sighed, putting a hand on her forehead. "I'll let you go on two conditions," she finally said after letting Brandon work up a nervous sweat.

Brandon let out a sigh of relief. "Okay, I can live with that, what conditions?"

"One, you at least leave a note and tell the others what you're doing."

Brandon nodded in agreement, "yeah, that's reasonable I'll - wait," he suddenly realized, "why can't you just-"

"I'm getting to that," Nia interrupted, "that's the second condition: you bring me with you."

"Uh, no?" Brandon tried.

"Uh yes." Nia stated, immediately destroying any hopes that Brandon had.

"Look, I just can't bring you with me, it's too dangerous."

"And everything else hasn't been?" Nia said, bringing up a valid point, "besides," she smirked, "someone's got to be around to save your arse."

Brandon raised his hands in defeat, "alright then, grab Dromarch, I'll write the note." Nia nodded at him and gave a soft rap on the door. She opened the door and Dromarch was already waiting behind it. Brandon's jaw opened up then closed it as he finally realized just how well Nia could read him. He went to write the note.

'Sorry about this Rex, but I'm going to be heading off to find Tina. I'm heading off with Nia and Dromarch so don't worry that they're gone in the morning. I'll explain everything once I get back. Until then wait for me on Indol. Don't do anything stupid like me.'

"Well?" Brandon asked holding the note up to Nia, "satisfied?"

"Very. Now that wasn't so hard now was it?" She snarked.

"Yeah, yeah," Brandon said annoyed, "let's head out."

….

"So what's the plan?" Nia asked as Brandon stopped at the harbor.

"Uh," Brandon scratched his head sheepishly, "I don't know."

"You don't know?" Nia exclaimed, stamping a foot, "you drag me out this late at night for a half assed revenge plot and you don't even have a plan?"

"Look, we'll head over to the Argentum trade guild, we can get anywhere from there," Brandon said thinking quickly, "plus if Bana was going to sell the artificial blades to Torna we could probably dig up some plans and stuff like that over there."

Nia harrumphed, "fine, but you're splurging on a private room on the ship, I'm not sleeping on one of those uncomfortable seats in the main cabin."

"Fine," Brandon agreed, not wanting to piss off his traveling companion further.

….

"Ahh…" Nia relaxed as she threw herself onto the bed as Brandon settled down onto the small couch. "Wait," she noticed, "there's only one bed, what about you?"

"I'll take the couch," Brandon responded simply, "This was the only room left. Besides, I'm not tired right now anyways, drank a ton of caffeine earlier to stay up."

Nia made a face, "that doesn't seem that good for you."

"Eh, I'll live," Brandon dismissed with a wave of his hand.

"Okay then, if you're going to stay awake, I want some explanations, what's this all about?" Nia demanded, "you've always been the 'don't kill them' guy but you went ballistic at betrayal and that Tina girl."

Brandon sighed. "I'm going to have to go way back for this. Also interrupt me if you don't understand something, there's going to be a lot of jargon in this so get ready. Of course, being one of the top scientists of the world, I was in high demand. The strongest government in the world: the Solar Empire, they wanted my skills the most because of my research with theoretical physics."

"Theoretical physics?" Nia interrupted.

"Yeah, the study of physics to do with serious theoretical phenomena, stuff to do with light, time, energy, gravity, stuff like that. Anyways, the time I didn't spend studying and building I was fleeing from the Empire." He huffed, "that's why I don't really like the Ardanians, but I digress. The top project that I worked on was the Artifice project. They weren't weapons, not at first. Their original purpose was for energy."

"Energy?" Nia asked as Brandon paused to take a breath, "like… Ether?"

"Hm, kind of. We used electricity for energy to power our stuff though. There were two Artifices that I worked on. The two types that seem to have fallen to Mythra and Malos respectively. One was based on light, it was meant to get as close to the sun as possible to absorb energy. When people needed it it would fire a short burst of energy to the Earth based on pinpoint calculations where it would be absorbed into the processing plants, refined, then sent a wave of energy out to remotely charge anything that was in the vicinity. That's why my suit's power doesn't last that long, no battery was created to last that long because they would be continuously charging no matter where you were in the world."

"What about your gauntlets then?" Nia asked, "they don't seem to run out of electricity."

"Ah, good question," Brandon praising Nia like a teacher to a student, "basically they use the vibrational energy that is continuously going through when battling to charge them up." He paused and got back on track, "but that's not the way we got most of our energy. The processing plants that I mentioned earlier were originally nuclear plants-"

"Nuclear plants?"

"Jeez," Brandon resting his head on his hands, "I need to make a school or something."

"Psh, school. I don't really like studying."

"No?" Brandon said, "I mean I don't like studying either, that's why I'm glad that my schools taught by experience rather than lectures."

Nia sighed, "sounds nice," Nia commented.

"You went to school?"

"No," Nia responded, "I was tutored by my da, how to be a proper lady and such."

"Proper lady?" Brandon gave a soft chuckle, "what, were you some kind of high society princess or something?"

"Hmph, for your information my da was a lord in Gormott. But…"

"But?"

"My sister… she was always weak, suffering from some kind of illness of one kind or another. My da kept on searching for a cure, doctors, anything he could find… but nothing worked. He ended up spending all of his money, lost his status as a lord and we became drifters from there…" Brandon went quiet as Nia sighed, "that's enough about me, continue your little lecture."

Brandon nodded in agreement, "Where was I? Oh right, nuclear power. We were running out of space to store nuclear waste without starting to irradiate the population. That's why I started up the other artifice. Any excess energy was to be stored by creating antimatter within the other Artifice and any nuclear waste we had leftover could be simply sent to the artifice. But…"

"You were betrayed," Nia finished. Brandon nodded.

"Tina, one of my childhood friends, turned out to be a sleeper agent. She took all of my tech and gave it to the Empire. After that I went completely underground and started supporting the Saviorite Rebels. I had never hated the Empire enough to join the rebels and destabilize society, but I was pissed off that they took the tech that was supposed to solve a global weapon and made it into a weapon of mass destruction that they used to quelch any resistance."

"What about the one at the World Tree?"

Brandon groaned, "Well, I can confirm at least that Elysium does indeed exist."

"It does?!" Nia said in disbelief, "wait, so is it like something that Morytha put together?"

"Yeah," Brandon confirmed, "I don't know how or why a giant tree grew up around it but the 'World Tree'? It's just the space elevator that the Solar Empire put together. Elysium is just New Los Angeles, a city that they put together in space. That's how I'm sure Tina survived. The final Saviorite assault was on the First low Orbit Station that's attached to the top of the World Tree. When my vessel was destroyed I managed to get into one of my escape pods. Tina must have gotten into a similar one as the Empire started losing," Brandon finished bitterly.

"Oh…" Nia said, "sorry I pried, I..."

"No no, you're fine. I should have told you about this sooner but I wanted to leave my past behind. Especially since that's just the barebones of it. I don't remember a lot but the stuff I do remember seems to be permanently embedded into my brain." He took a long breath. "Nia? Thanks, I really needed that."

Nia nodded back, feeling that the situation didn't call for words. Brandon stood up to flick off the light then fumbled around back to the couch, flopping himself down. Brandon felt that even without the caffeine he wouldn't have been able to fall asleep with his thoughts more turbulent now than they had been in for a long time. However, about a hour later, fatigue finally set in as he fell asleep to the rocking of the ship and Nia's soft snoring.

….

"Ow," Brandon groaned as he woke up rubbing his neck. A crick had developed through the night. "Ugh, I'm going to be feeling that for the rest of the day."

"Morning!" Nia said as she walked back into their room, "we're about 10 minutes off so I came back to wake you." She explained, "though it looks like you're already up."

"What time is it?" Brandon groaned.

"Sometime around seven in the morning I think." She chuckled at the miserable expression on Brandon's face, "not a morning person eh?"

"You are?" Brandon asked, impressed.

"Yeah, always have been."

Brandon slowly stood up, still rubbing the back of his neck. "Alright, let's head out."

….

"So what now?" Nia asked as the two stepped onto the docks of the Argentum Trade Guild.

"Hm," Brandon contemplated, "I think that we should head up to Bana's office." He then dropped his voice, "I doubt that news of his death have reached the ears of any in the guild yet."

Nia nodded and followed along as Brandon jogged through the guild.

….

"Find anything?" Brandon asked as he shuffled through papers.

"Nothing on this side," Nia responded.

The two spent several more minutes shifting through paper. "Gah!" Brandon finally flung up his hands in frustration, "either Bana's not as stupid as I thought he was or someone's gone and cleared out all records."

"Think it was Torna?" Nia asked.

"I wouldn't put it past them to have paid a visit. It could also just as easily have been Tina. I can't draw any conclusions though, the office looked untouched but I could be wrong…"

"Hey!" A voice yelled from behind, "what are you doing here? This is the personal office of Chairman Bana!"

Brandon cursed under his breath.

"Put your hands in the air and turn around slowly, you're both under arrest!"

Brandon and Nia exchanged a look, not even needing words to put together a plan. Brandon subtly moved a hand behind his back and counted down. When his fist closed Nia rushed towards the exit as Brandon charged at the guard. He swung a fist into the guard's stomach. The guard doubled over as he was flung back. He hastily rushed to his feet and tried to run out the door to sound an alarm but Nia was already there and let him run into a fist.

"Dromarch!" Nia yelled.

"Yes my lady?" The tiger blade said as he padded into the room.

"What happened to keeping watch?" She demanded, "how'd this guy just waltz on in here?"

Dromarch looked at the guard then back to Nia apologetically, "I am sorry my lady, I did not see him. I must have missed him walking by."

Nia looked like she was going to say more when Brandon gave her a look. "Cut the tiger some slack, milady, no one is perfect after all. Plus nothing really happened, we're just going to have to hide him and get out of here before he wakes up."

Nia grunted, clearly annoyed but didn't press the issue further. Brandon started to head to the door, "wait." Brandon paused and looked back over his shoulder.

"Where do we go now? We don't have the lead that we thought we would have," Nia pointed out.

"We just gotta get out of here first," Brandon reasoned, "best that we get out of here before that guard can give descriptions of us." A thought then went through his head and he busted out laughing. "Although in your case I think that they would mess up the drawing enough to be unrecognizable!" He joked.

Nia growled in irritation. Taking the hint, Brandon's laughter slowly died down as the two snuck out of the room, followed closely by Dromarch.

….

"Where to?" Nia asked as they made their way to the docks.

"Leftheria," Brandon replied.

"What? Why there? It's just a small out of the way village," Nia asked.

"It's my, and Rex's, home." Brandon responded, "we may have lived on Gramp's back most of the time but that's where our home really is."

"Ah," Nia realized, "you want to check up on people back home?"

"Yeah, been awhile since me or Rex have been there" Brandon responded, "It's a good place to think as well, I've got no leads and no clue as to where Tina could be hiding."

"Alright then, I'll go grab us seats," Nia sauntered off.

"Don't get a room again!" Brandon called out after her, "don't want to attract any unwanted attention. The boat's to Leftheria which means that there's going to be almost no one on board."

"Yeah yeah," Nia snarked back as she waved a hand dismissively, not even looking back. Dromarch padded up behind her.

Brandon huffed in annoyance. "I swear…" Brandon muttered under his breath as he ran to catch up.

….

"Happy?" Nia asked as Brandon sat down next to her.

"Very," he sarcastically replied, imitating Nia from earlier. He then sighed. "By the way, thanks for all of this. I'd probably have had a mental breakdown if not for you."

"Of course," Nia smirked, elbowing Brandon, "what are friends for?"

Brandon chuckled back, "it's been a while since I've been this close to anyone, feels kinda weird but good at the same time."

"I know that feeling," Nia said back.

"Hm," Brandon hummed in response, not really paying that much attention as he fumbled around in his backpack.

"Hey," he elbowed Nia as he brought out what appeared to be a rectangular sheet of glass.

"Hm?" She leaned over, "what's that?"

Brandon smirked. He grabbed the edges of the glass and started unfolding it into a larger sheet. When it completely unfolded it took on a black hue. Brandon hit a button on the side that seemed to have materialized out of nowhere as the screen lit up to life. Nia gasped in surprise.

"What's that?" She asked in awe.

"Well, milady, It's what's known as a tablet," Brandon responded jokingly, "basically a super advanced computer," he explained, "I'll wager that it's more powerful than anything we have here on Alrest."

Nia was stunned speechless.

"Want to watch a movie?" Brandon asked as he pulled out a pair of earbuds.

"A… movie?" Nia asked.

"Oh right," Brandon slapped his forehead, "a movie is like… a motion picture. It's basically a fictional story that was created by motion picture and sound."

"Hm, sounds interesting," she then took on an evil grin, "this you asking me on a date?"

Brandon sputtered in embarrassment, as he rapidly waved his hands in denial.

"I'm messing with you!" Nia laughed as Brandon's face went completely red.

Brandon buried his face in his hands wishing that he could disappear through sheer willpower.

"Sure, why not," Nia said, still laughing. Brandon offered an earbud, still red in the face. She looked at it quizzically then followed suit as Brandon put one in his ear.

"Get ready to have your mind blown," Brandon said, having recovered a bit as he booted up a movie from his storage. Brandon relaxed as a familiar title crawl started working its way up the screen as some of the most iconic music from film ever composed blasted through the earbuds.

….

"Ah," Nia sighed as she stretched out the cricks in her back, "that was the most fun I've had in while. What was that called again?"

"Super Smash Bros," Brandon responded with a wink, "much better than that Tiger Tiger game that Tora has eh?"

"Hell yeah!" Nia responded with a laugh as the pair stepped off the ship onto the docks of the Leftherian Archipelago.

Brandon chuckled, "this way," he gestured as he started to walk down a well worn path.

….

"Brandon!" a group of kids exclaimed as they ran up to the inventor. Brandon chuckled as he tried his best to fend off their relentless rapid-fire questions. Nia smiled warmly at the scene, then gave a small gasp as she looked over to the side to see a familiar flash of blue. She smirked at the sight of a familiar face walking behind the salvager in between the special Inquisitor and the Nopon engineer.

"Hey shellhead!" Nia called, raising a hand in greeting. The crown prince of Tantal gave a wide grin as he gave a small salute back in acknowledgement.

"Huh?" Brandon turned around in confusion at Nia's sudden exclamation. "Ow!" Brandon stumbled as a fist met his face, "hey!" he exclaimed turning around, "what's the big… idea…" his words died as his brain registered the salvager in blue.

Brandon searched around in his head, desperate for an excuse. Drawing a blank he scratched his head sheepishly as he shot Rex an awkward grin. "Uh, what's up?"

….

Brandon sat with his head down as each of the team, exempting Zeke, took turns yelling at him. He felt very much as if he were being scolded like a child by parents. Rex finally finished the group rant and took a deep breath, calming himself down. Mòrag, Tora, and Zeke and their respective blades had left already, leaving Rex to vent the rest of his anger.

"I'm just glad you're okay," Rex finished, putting a hand on Brandon's shoulder.

"Thanks… I did deserved that," Brandon admitted with a sigh, "I'm still not going to go to Indol with you yet, I've still got my own mission."

Rex sighed, "I figured as much." His eyes took on a softer look, "just promise me you'll stay safe."

Brandon smirked, "you know me, I'll get into the worst trouble possible then I'll somehow manage to wiggle my way out of it."

Rex laughed, "true enough," he turned around and started walking towards Corinne's house. "By the way, you'll want to talk to Aunt Corinne," Rex smirked almost evilly, "she's going to have some words with you as well." Brandon gulped as he followed Rex toward the house, sweating in dread.

….

As Rex had predicted, Brandon had received a verbal lashing from both parental figures. Gramps had joined in shortly after learning that Brandon had coincidentally came back to the village at the same time as Rex's crew. He stumbled out of the house, utterly drained mentally. He spotted Dromarch as he walked out of the house.

"Hey Dromarch!" Brandon called, "know where Nia is?"

"Ah, master Brandon," the butler like tiger acknowledged, "it would probably be best not to disturb my lady, she seems to be… not in the best of moods. If you must know she is somewhere off in that direction," Dromarch thrusted his muzzle in the direction he was referring to. Brandon nodded in thanks as he wandered off. He walked through the village, heading down a path, to cloud sea level, to find Nia sitting near the edge of the titan, looking off into the cloud sea. Brandon took a seat next to her. Nia glanced over to Brandon and gave a soft chuckle at his expression.

"Parents?" She asked simply.

"Parents," Brandon agreed.

The both lapsed into silence, staring off into the calming clouds.

"When are you heading off again?" Nia asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Am I that easy to read?" Brandon joked weakly, full well knowing the answer. Nia just crossed her arms.

Brandon thought for a moment, "give me till about tomorrow afternoon," he said growing serious, "I should have some kind of idea by then."

Nia nodded in response. The two spent the rest of the evening in silence, not really feeling the need for words, listening to the soft calming waves of the Cloud Sea shifting underneath them, quietly enjoying each other's company.

 **Eh, now that i've written the chapter… original writing doesn't seem so good. My writing skills still have a long ways to go. Also, believe it or not, I wrote this before reading ch 7 of 'The ol Switcheroo'. I am quite aware of how much some scenes resemble those from that fic and I seriously debated rewriting the chapter but… you know, I was too lazy.**


	14. Chapter 13: New Adventure

**Huh. I lost a favorite and follow after the last chapter. Plus my daily views suddenly halved for some reason. Feels bad. Guess I can't please everyone. :( Seriously though, leave a review if there's something you don't like.**

 **Sorry about the late update, school's been kicking my ass. I also won't update next week because I'll be gone the entire week so hopefully this more informative chapter makes up for it!**

 **Also I forgot to put this in the last AN so some explanations for the tech that was mentioned. The Artifices: The whole transfer energy by firing a massive beam is actually the best possible way to transfer energy across a distance like that. It's not like we can hook up a massive wire from the sun to the Earth. The other one, I just figured that antimatter was the best way to explain Malos' power as it literally deletes anything it touches which is much the same as antimatter. However what actually works out in this case with the whole power thing is that antimatter has serious energy storage potential. I can see it being used in the future for something like energy storage and disposal of some nasty nuclear waste.**

 **Gauntlets: I am an intern at an aerospace company. Because of this I learn about some really cool things. One of those is actually a project that uses excess vibrational in combat to power electronics. If that sort of tech is being researched right now I don't see why it couldn't be improved upon in the 100 year time-span.**

 **Answering Reviews:**

 **RedBurningDragon: Well then for sure it'll be in a sequel. Brandon's heading out again and after he returns it's going to be non-stop movement till the World Tree. As for the World Tree itself, Brandon's smart, he used the information he had to figure it out.**

 **1: He recently discovered that Artifices are still a thing and are active. In fact one is guarding the World Tree.**

 **2: His pod was ejected during combat above the First Low Orbit Station. His pods were in widespread use and in order to reawaken it needed external human input. Because of how Tina is still alive in Alrest, it stands to reason that she also ejected from a high up area.**

 **3\. Alrest is not that big. The chances of her having ejected from a ship far away and still ending up in Alrest is almost 0, thus leading to the conclusion that the World Tree is in fact the space elevator.**

 **Can't say anything about that because no spoilers. They are going to be traveling around a good portion of Alrest though I can tell you that much. Also I'm probably going to throw Boreas at Rex or something. That's actually what happened to me in the game. My first rare blade and I unlock a healer on Rex. Then again, after I unlocked *spoiler redacted* on Rex in chapter 7 I literally only used her. Not once did I switch to another blade after. May have been a bad idea… but the fact that you pretty much couldn't die except for one shots in exchange for damage was a good deal for me.**

 **LordOfTee: Hey, nice to see a familiar face. Yes, yes it is nice to learn about main characters. I'm hoping to build more backstory with this chapter as well, some more exposition on my version of Morytha.**

 **Now, on with the show!**

Brandon awoke with a groan, blinking rapidly to adjust to glaring light that he was unaccustomed to. He sat up slowly as he stretched out, popping each of his stiff joints. He rubbed his eyes as he took stock of his location. He was still on the shores of the Leftherian Archipelago. He realized that he must have fallen asleep the night before, next to…

He looked around rapidly, searching for his friend, only for Nia to be nowhere in sight. He jumped up rapidly in panic to feel a blanket slip off of him. He crouched down to look over it in confusion. Out of the folds in the blanket somewhere, fell a piece of paper. He unfolded it to see nothing but a smiley face smirking back at him. Brandon groaned. Turns out Nia could outwit him without even saying a word.

"Must've been Nia," he muttered to himself in embarrassment, knowing that Rex wouldn't dare to troll him like that. He looked up at the sky then jumped in panic. He cursed as he sprinted back up to Corinne's house. The sun had reached its peak and he was late to give Nia a comprehensive plan. Normally Brandon was strictly atheist but now he found himself praying to the Architect to pull out whatever mercy resided in Nia.

….

Brandon was panting heavily as he burst through the front door. He collapsed to his knees as he fought to control his breathing.

"Took you long enough," Nia snarked as she looked down on the out of shape innovator. "You missed out on quite a scene. Rex just left. But of course right before he left he had to resonate with a new blade. Got himself a healer: Boreas, so you don't have to worry about them now."

"Yeah yeah," Brandon sighed dramatically as he got back to his feet, "I'm stuck with you now."

"Laugh it up," Nia joked back, "I'll outpace you in wit any day."

Brandon could only shrug, "true enough." He sobered. "Well, you're going to get some more alone time with me 'cuz we're heading back to the factory, see what clues we can pick up on there."

Nia nodded, "makes sense, I'll go and tell Corinne."

Brandon nodded in response.

"And you'd better not run off without me," Nia wagged a finger.

"Of course not Milady," Brandon took on an exaggerated look of offense, he then waved a hand, "go on and do your thing."

Brandon walked off towards the docks to get a spot on a ship to Mor Ardain.

….

"Ugh," Brandon groaned as he stepped off the boat as a thought went through his head. "We're going to have to fight all those monsters again aren't we?"

Nia jostled Brandon, "c'mon, it wasn't that bad," she teased.

"Yeah," Brandon elbowed back, "because you didn't do the fighting."

"Hey, I had to do the heavy lifting by keeping your arses alive," Nia countered.

"... Whatever," Brandon said, refusing to admit defeat. Nia chuckled, knowing full well that she won.

Brandon sighed in resignation, "let's just get this over with." He held his head up tall, bracing himself for the trial that was to come.

….

Brandon groaned as Nia hauled him out of bed. The trio had spent the last three days In the Ardanian Capital, well the first day was spent trekking through to the capital where Brandon had fallen asleep the moment he got into an Inn. The other two days were spent gathering materials and resources to take on the wasteland. Learning from the last time, Brandon had prepared hardcore for the journey. He had bought himself multiple thick dark cloaks to protect himself. For Nia, he had just given her a scarf and told her to wear her hood up. She had just huffed at him and taken the scarf. The two also decided to travel during the night where it wouldn't be nearly as hot, if not downright cold, which is how Brandon preferred it having lived in the north most of his life.

Of course, Brandon being Brandon decided to be stupid and not sleep during the day, preferring to tinker on various projects, a decision he was severely regretting at that moment. Nia, unsympathetic to Brandon, simply rolled him off the bed onto Dromarch's waiting back. Brandon's complaints were muffled as Brandon had been rolled onto Dromarch face first. Nia laughed as she draped the cloaks over Brandon's back and the three of them made their way out into the streets of the capital.

….

Brandon collapsed, having utterly exhausted himself in the harsh Ardanian wasteland. The pair had spent several days wandering around, taking shelter during the day and traveling at night was a good concept in theory. The problem arose because of the fact that it was in the middle of summer, meaning that the nights are going to be short and days long.

"I'm going to sleep for days after this," he muttered as Nia healed the few scrapes and scratches that he had accumulated over the last several monsters. She hesitated as she reached the giant gash in his torso. Normally against these weaker monsters he would have been able to beat them unscathed but his fatigue had really gotten to him. The fatigue really showed when he stepped in front of her to take a blow when normally he would have easily killed it before it could strike.

"You've got to stop taking risks like this," Nia chided as she healed over the wound.

"Hey," Brandon rasped, "I thought you said you're the one doing the heavy lifting, it's the least I could do." He shrugged from his position, acting as if it were no big deal but Nia could see the strain on his face, as well as a peculiar tic under his left eye.

"Least you could do for what?" She said in frustration, "I can heal myself you know, you hurting yourself more is just going to make things harder. I can't heal fatal injuries, and don't use that thing back in Uraya as an example. We both know that Akhos missed a vital area."

Brandon paused then chuckled weakly, "what if I said I wanted to take the hit?" Nia tilted her head in confusion. "I'd rather it were me than you," Brandon explained, "I don't like seeing my friends get hurt."

"I don't care about that," Nia snapped then hesitated. "I just worry that if you keep this up, there won't be anything left to heal."

"Nia… Sorry," Brandon groaned as he covered his face, "I guess I wasn't really thinking."

"Yeah," she snarked, "you weren't. Now then, we're not far from the factory. If we keep up the pace we should reach it by sunrise, you up for it?"

Brandon removed his hand from his face and considered. After a moment he nodded. Nia extended a hand and helped the inventor up. The pair continued to trudge along. Brandon quickly ran out of energy and had to rely on Dromarch and Nia to hold him up. By the time the first rays of dawn started peaking over the horizon the pair had staggered their way over to the factory.

"Wait," Brandon stopped and yanked Nia back.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, "what's the big id-" Brandon covered her mouth and pointed. There were Ardanian troops swarming the facility.

"Damn," Brandon muttered, "looks like they've got the place on full lockdown."

Nia scanned over the factory entrances, "then what do we do?" Nia asked, turning to face Brandon.

"Wait it out," he said simply, "I doubt that they've managed to get a full shakedown of the place in a week. They're definitely not going to continue searching during the night." He then rummaged through is backpack and started setting up a small camp, "we'll rest up here for the day and sneak past the guards tonight."

Nia nodded, "sounds like a plan." She nodded at Dromarch who immediately padded off to scout. She sat down heavily, taking off the thick scarf and hood. By then Brandon had already set up the small tent that he had and the two crawled into it, almost desperate for the shelter. Brandon sighed in relief as he slumped down. He heard the wind pick up, brewing up a sandstorm. He then sat up in a rush.

"Nia!" Brandon exclaimed in worry, "what about Dromarch?"

Nia waved a hand dismissively, "he's a blade," an eye ticked, "beast type at that, he'll be fine."

"Yeah but there's no way that'll be pleasant." Brandon argued, "the tent looks exactly like one of the boulders out there, we didn't need a scout."

"Better safe than sorry yeah?" Nia said, "besides, buckethead, it's not like you can go out in that and survive."

Brandon considered for a moment. "True enough." He laid back down with a soft groan. Nia leaned over to fuss over him.

"Hey! You can't move around like that!" Nia reprimanded, "I may have healed over the wound but it's going to take time to get fully back to normal!"

"Ugh," Brandon groaned as he slung an arm over his forehead, "you really are a mother hen figure aren't you milady?"

She gave a snort, "never been called a… what is a mother hen exactly?"

"Well hens are a long extinct species but the phrase is used to describe someone who takes care of the needs of others."

Nia snorted again, "never been called caring before. Usually people say I've got an abrasive personality."

"Hey," Brandon nudged, "it's only with me that you can have these verbal sparring contests."

"Yeah," Nia rolled her eyes as she rolled onto her side, facing away from him, "I always win though."

Brandon laughed as he also settled in to sleep, "true enough!"

….

Nia blearily blinked her eyes open as she woke up. She couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was that woke her at first then it dug into her back. She strained to look over her shoulder then rolled her eyes. She found that Brandon hand turned over in his sleep and was now sleeping on his face. His shoulder and arm were digging into her back almost painfully. She wiggled out of the enclosed position and poked her out out of the tent. A layer of sand had built up but because Dromarch had been sleeping outside it mostly just piled up to the side of him, his body acting as a shield.

She looked up and realized that night had fallen just a little bit ago as the moon was about a quarter of the way up. She shook Dromarch awake then threw a fistfull of sand at Brandon. He sputtered in indignation as he was startled awake, shaking sand from his hair.

"Hey!" Brandon yelled, "what's the big idea?"

Nia shrugged, "I didn't have a bucket of water."

Brandon grumbled, "I'm going to have sand falling out of my hair all day now."

"Suck it up," Nia said, "we've got a factory to explore!"

The three of them snuck towards the factory, making sure to stay well within the shadows. Brandon had given Nia a dark cloak as well as bright yellow didn't really make the stealthiest color. He found the ladder that they had climbed up not too long before and he immediately went to the control panel. His earlier rewiring was still intact so all he had to do was send a spark through the panel causing the ladder to slide down noiselessly. The two struggled to climb up. One of the problems of having a beast type blade is that they're not as versatile as humans. The old hole was still there so the two stepped into the old factory.

The two looked around room to room, making sure not to miss anything. Brandon specifically made sure to strip down every machine that he came across. At first it seemed harmless, but as Nia's patience wore thin her acceptance of Brandon's scavenging dissipated. Nearing the fifth room of the factory that Brandon just _had_ to salvage everything in the room Nia's patience wore out. She scrutinized the inventory, hoping for him to get the hint but he was absolutely in his own world at that point. She was about to yell at him when she looked closer at his face.

Hidden behind his eyes seemed to be an almost malicious glee. He seemed to be too enthusiastic about taking apart old machines. She observed as he moved on to the next machine, look over the thing, and seemed to determine something. He then activated a single gauntlet and put a fist through the old machine.

"What the hell!" Nia finally yelled, "I thought you were just gathering up parts!"

Brandon looked over in surprise as his expression melted into guilt.

"Uh, yeah!" He called back, "this one didn't have anything useful."

Nia looked closely at his face. "So you just destroy it?" She demanded.

Brandon didn't respond. "I know you at this point," Nia said, "you're hiding something again."

Brandon's left eye ticked, "I'm not."

"Like that," Nia exclaimed, "your left eye twitches when you lie." She sighed, "what is it this time?"

Brandon flinched, "... Look its stuff from my past okay? I hate factories like this. After the coalition age… well, these factories were put wherever labor was the cheapest. They became a symbol of oppression of these mega corporations onto poor people who had no choice but to work in these kinds of factories. We had machines that could do all the work but at that point cheap people labor was essentially slave labor. That didn't go through my head the first time cuz I was just hyped up on adrenaline searching for Bana but now…"

Nia crossed her arms. "I get having pain from the past but this is getting ridiculous. It's interfering with our search, which I'm going to point out is entirely because of something else from your past. Make up your mind!" She lifted a hand to the center of her chest and clenched a fist as she looked down.

"You're right," Brandon finally sighed as he walked forward. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder and she looked up to meet his warm brown eyes. He nodded reassuringly. "Let's go." She nodded back.

….

"Here we go!" Brandon exclaimed as he stepped into an office looking area, Nia and Dromarch following closely behind. They shared a look and immediately stepped into their roles, Dromarch keeping watch while Brandon and Nia started rifling through everything they could find.

"No…" Brandon murmured to himself, "not that… not that… not… wait, why did Bana have insurance on a weapons factory? How the hell did he cover that up?" Brandon shook his head.

"A _HA!_ Finally!" Brandon exclaimed, pulling out a specific file in triumph, "shipping info!"

Nia ran over to the desk by Brandon in the small office that they had been ransacking.

"Well?"

Brandon paused to look over the documents. "Well, it looks like we're heading back to Uraya," he finally said. "It looks like that's where some of these blade parts came from. The thing is some of these parts are only things that someone from Morytha would know how to put together. I don't know how or why they incorporated these cpus into the blades, they're not meant for combat. They were used as autopilot calculators but it has to have been from our resident Specter."

Nia nodded at the logic. "Let's head out then," she said as she turned around and stepped back out into the cavernous factory, Brandon following closely after.

"Hey," Nia realized, "Uraya's massive, where exactly do we go?"

Brandon thought for a moment. "We don't have an exact lead so forgive me, milady, but we're going to have to go on my gut instinct. You cool with that?"

Nia grumbled but nodded.

"Alright then, we can obviously rule out the city. No way she's going to hide out in the capital," Brandon continued to think with a hand raised to his chin, "probably not with the mercs… wait, what's the most inhospitable area of Uraya?"

"The… stomach?" Ni guessed.

"Bingo. Though I've got no idea where exactly. I would assume that the one place where no one else would be able to get to. Probably directly under one of those acid pools." Brandon nodded at his own reasoning and started off.

….

Nia looked over at Brandon at the loud sound of some rustling as he was rummaging through his bag. The two had just gotten onto a guild ship to head over to the Trade Guild to book a ship over to Uraya. She looked over curiously at the innovator as he pulled out several wooden rods and started attaching them to each other.

"What's that?" She asked.

Brandon smirked, "you're about to find out." He finished assembling the wooden rod as he took a small wooden sliver, stuck it in his mouth and sucked for a moment, then took it out and clamped it to the top of the long wooden rod. He then brought it to his mouth and started blowing air through it. Nia took a breath to say something but Brandon brought up a finger to stop her as he continued to blow air. He then took a deep breath, and started making music.

Nia started unconsciously swaying along to the catchy beat of the song. Brandon pulled out a device and started hitting buttons creating loops of other beats and bass parts. He added on more complex rhythms, adding on support. A crowd had started to form around the pair as people started dancing to the rhythm. Then he started up the melody and the crowd around them went wild.

….

"Phew!" Brandon wiped the sweat off his brow as he stepped off the ship. "Biggest crowd I've ever drawn in!"

"What was that?" Nia asked.

"Ah, the instrument that I was playing is called the clarinet, it's an old Morythan instrument so I'd bet almost no one has ever seen one before. The song is called Techno Rocker, it's a piece that me and a couple other musicians remixed into that clarinet version."

"Never took you for the artist type," Nia joked.

Brandon chuckled as he shrugged, "hey, learning music is good for the soul, and the brain."

"Hm, wait, is it actually?"

"Actually what?"

Nia rolled her eyes, "you know what. Good for the brain?"

"Yeah. Learning music, especially from a young age actually slowly changes your brain, makes you more creative as it changes the way you think," Brandon pointed at his head, "that's mostly why I started playing music but as I slowly kept on playing, I grew to love it, especially that song." He chuckled at Nia's almost longing expression. "I can teach you if you want?"

"Yes!" Nia exclaimed then went red, "I mean sure, if you want…"

Brandon burst out laughing, "alright then, let's get on to Uraya!"

….

The odd trio stepped off the ship onto the land of Fonsa Myma, the Urayan capital. Brandon and Nia split up. Brandon had just told Nia to do whatever she wanted as he figured something out. He headed over to the market where he spent quite a pretty penny getting together barrels of resources.

"I swear to go- the architect that I'm right about this," Brandon muttered under his breath as he put together a makeshift wagon to carry all of the ingredients. As he walked through the streets of the Urayan capital he was brought back in time, all the way back to his life in the old world.

He had recently joined up with the Saviorite rebels at a time of extreme desperation. Their power sources were running low and without access to Brandon's Artifice technology they were falling behind to the Empire's rapidly developing cold fusion technology. Brandon's few antimatter drives were serving as a substitute but wouldn't last long powering an entire war effort.

So as his induction mission he had been required to figure out how to infiltrate the massive experimental Imperial fusion core reactor in order to steal their blueprints, resources, and shut down the imperial reactor. He had been stumped at first. The sheer amount of radioactive energy coming from the reactor would instantly kill anyone who stepped foot into the reactor. He didn't have the resources to build a robot that could survive the nuclear output, nor could he build a suit that had several meters of thick lead armor.

He worked on it for months, putting together different suits and armor in a vain attempt to block extreme radiation. He failed every time. Then one day a thought came to him as he was talking to one of the few friends he made during his time with the rebels.

"You know, why does lead stop gamma radiation?" William asked.

"Well, it's density of electrons help absorb and scatter the… energy…" Brandon paused as an idea flashed through his head.

"Exactly," William responded, "and what exactly transfers energy?"

"Waves," Brandon whispered, reaching the same conclusion. He then let out a loud laugh, "see man, you should be working in IT, not as a spy, we need more than yours truly, I can't be a master at everything!"

William shrugged, "I abandoned my dream of being a particle physicist a long time ago," he smirked, "besides, being a spy is way more fun than what you're doing sitting in a dusty room."

"Yeah yeah," Brandon waved his friend out of the room, "get out of here, you'll inside the generator before you know it." That was the last time they had seen each other.

Within the next week of the realization, Brandon had built a suit that was not only capable of deflecting basic Alpha and Beta particles but also had the ridiculous capability to emit its own form of radioactive energy in an exact interference pattern of Gamma and X Ray radiation, keeping the wearer completely safe from even the most powerful forms of radiation.

The moment the suit completed its first round of tests William was sent out in it. Brandon had waited in anticipation for his return when he heard an absolute panic going around as the base went into lockdown. It turns out that William's mission had simply to be to destroy the plant, and in doing so sacrificing himself, taking out the Empire's main energy source which forced them to take many Artifices out of military service and back into their original role of being power sources. With the mass Artifice army cut in half, it would be much easier to avoid their pinpoint strikes on approaching air or spacecraft. There was never a need to take power as the Rebellion had already been planning their final assault on the First Low Orbit Station where the majority of the Empire's firepower was stored. If they won, they would move on to the Capital where they would seize victory. If they lost, the final resistance to the tyranny of the Solar Empire would have been lost.

Brandon had gone absolutely numb when he had heard the news. William had specifically requested that the mission details be hidden from Brandon when he had stepped forward to take on the burden. He knew that if Brandon ever even heard a whisper of it he would have done everything in his power to prevent him from going. However, Brandon recovered much faster than anyone had expected him to. He had already been through betrayal, and while he knew that the two scenarios were different, his subconscious had already matched them together. But not only that, he had failed his friends. He could have shown them the other way. He could have changed the outcome. But in the end, he let them both be hurt. One was forever a servant of the Empire while the other had died. He supposed that this was why he didn't make friends.

He was snapped back to the present with the sound of Urayan warships taking to the sky. He mused to himself that Alrest really wasn't that much better than his old war torn world. He shook his head to refocus. He had a new mission now. There were no weapons of mass destruction so as destructive as a war could be, it wouldn't end the world like his did. The Ardanian war machine may have advanced much but it still could only compare to the times of the American Revolution at its best. He was in a new world where he wouldn't, couldn't face the same loss that he did in his past life. Rex, Nia, Pyra, and Dromarch were part of his family now and he knew he would never let them down.

….

By the time he had left the remote corner of the city that he was working at night had fallen. Brandon wiped his brow as he stood up to admire his handiwork, then looked up at the sky and yelped in shock. He started cursing as he sprinted toward the city square, making a funny sight, a near grown man sprinting through the streets lugging a cart behind him, to any stray Urayans about at that late hour. It was especially hard for him as his specific cargo was completely made of powder, making it constantly lurch back and forth as he ran, continuously resisting him every step of the way. He cursed the laws of granular physics then sighed: at least it wasn't liquid.

He arrived panting and sweating from both exertion and fear. His sweat went cold as he turned the corner to see the expression on Nia's face.

He looked to Nia then to the wagon, "I can explain."

….

Nia sighed as she flopped back onto the inn's bed having just heard Brandon's explanation. "You'd better be right about all this."

"Trust me!" Brandon flashed a nervous grin, almost as if to reassure himself as well, "I've yet to let us down, mostly."

Nia snorted as she rolled her eyes, "fills me with confidence, that."

"Hmph," Brandon rolled over to face away from the other bed. "Hey Nia?" He asked suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"You know," Brandon sat up to face the Gormotti girl, "since we're here and all, I kind of want to visit Vandham, pay him some respect."

"Hm," Nia thought for a moment as she sat back up then shrugged, "sure, why not."

Brandon flashed a much more confident grin back. "Alright then, let's take the next couple days slow and steady."

 **watch?v=3zUaXIn7nNM** **If you're curious at all about that clarinet song BTW. It's my high school clarinet group's thing. I am personally a clarinet player making this a small injection of myself. So this chapter was mostly a kind of "slice of life" kind of thing with some exposition, just Brandon and Nia interacting.**


	15. Chapter 14: Rising Tentions

**I'm back! The schedule should be update every Sunday now because I don't have any more potential interruptions, though the update may come in the form of an edit to an old chapter. Sorry about the short chapter but this was more of a build up to the next chapter when shit truly hits the fan.**

 **Hm, no new reviews. Oh well.**

 **On with the show!**

Brandon knelt in reverence in front of the tombstone just as dawn broke, following the ancient Saviorite tradition of acknowledging and respecting the past than looking forward into a new day. Normally he didn't care for such trivial traditions but in this case, he felt that the mercenary deserved every ounce of respect he had.

Brandon bowed his head in sorrow, regretful that he had been unable to save the burly mercenary, beating himself up for not using the armor sooner, no matter how experimental. Nia knelt beside him. Brandon moved to stand back up when he heard Nia's voice whispering something faintly into the background.

"Hey Vandham," she choked out as tears fell from her face, "I'm traveling with Brandon now," she rolled her eyes, "he's been his old stupid self." She let out a strangled laugh. "Rex is fine, he's got Tora, Mòrag, and Zeke with him. All of them better mentors than what I could be. All of them better suited to protect him."

Nia's tears slowly increased in intensity, "he resonated with Roc, hope that was okay with you..." The rest of what Nia was saying was rendered inaudible as a wind picked up, blowing the pair's hair around them as the soft glow of the new morning's light shone down on their faces. Brandon closed his eyes as he tilted his head down, following along with Nia, but whispering in his head.

Nia finished her "conversation" and stood up, wiping tears from her face. Brandon, taking notice, put a hand on her shoulder. She looked back at him as the sun started peeking over the horizon and Brandon responded with a small smile and a nod.

"You know," Brandon said as he lowered his hand, a sudden thought popping into his head, "you're more similar to Rex than I realized."

"What do you mean by that?" Nia asked, a tinge of annoyance ringed around her tone.

"Rex did, well still does, this all the time," Brandon explained, "he talks to his parents, kneels in front of their graves and talks to them."

Nia's eyes softened as the annoyed glint left them.

"What do you know," Nia shrugged, "I guess it's just an Alrest thing."

Brandon shrugged, "everyone's got their own traditions. You know why I dragged you out here this early?"

"Because I normally get up this early?" Nia snarked.

"... Well... yes…" Brandon looked like he had backed himself into a corner "and the Saviorites had an old tradition. We would visit the dead early so that we could pay our respects then go into a new day."

"A new day huh?" Nia looked up into the horizon, watching the new day break wistfully.

"Something up?" Brandon asked, the golden glow from the sunrise starting to wash over his face.

"I never really got to look forward to a new day…" Nia looked down. Dromarch, sensing some distress, padded up to her and moved himself under her hand. She looked down with gratitude. "Dromarch and I… we never really got to settle down anywhere. After my father died, we kind of just drifted around. We were too busy being worried about surviving day to day than setting forward to accomplish something new."

Brandon grimaced then put on a brave smile as he put a hand on Nia's shoulder. Nia's watering copper eyes met Brandon's warm brown ones.

"Hey, you're with me now," Brandon said almost arrogantly, "now we've got something to look forward to."

Nia smirked back, "yeah Buckethead? Seems like I'm carrying your arse more so than mine so I don't see too much of a difference."

Brandon's grin turned more sheepish, "sure sure, It's not like I'm doing all the fighting."

Nia rolled her eyes, "I've done my fair share of fighting, besides, healing is just as important."

Brandon merely shrugged as he turned around to head back toward the stairs.

….

Brandon decided to wander over to a cafe right after, he could use the caffeine as unlike Nia, he didn't normally wake up that early. When Nia saw where Brandon was making a beeline for she scoffed.

"Really? You need a caff in the morning to get going?" Nia rolled her eyes.

"Hey!" Brandon said in mock hurt, "I'm not an early riser like you are. I actually need some liquid stimulation."

Nia shrugged, "maybe you should work your way to waking up early."

Brandon turned around and shielded his eyes from the sun, casting a shadow over his eyes, "what a wonderful idea! Why hadn't I ever thought of that? Oh wait, I did, and I tried, and I failed."

"What?" Nia said in indignation, "how quickly did you give up?"

"After a year, never worked out," Brandon shrugged, "don't know how your Gormotti body works but human teens are wired to sleep late and wake up late, just basic biology thwarting me."

Nia shifted uncomfortably.

"Oh shit," Brandon muttered, noticing the subtle shift in body language, "that didn't sound racist did it?" Brandon's tone was now quiet and cautious.

"No no!" Nia waved her hands to quickly reassure the insecure inventor, "you're fine, I was just thinking is all."

"Hm," the corner of Brandon's lip twitched down, "if you say so…" Brandon turned around and headed into the cafe, Nia following behind.

The cafe was strangely quiet. There was a nervous tension in the air making it uncomfortable stiff. When Brandon went up to the counter to order he had to snap his fingers under the waiter's face several times to snap him out of his daze.

"Wonder what's going on…" Brandon muttered, mostly to himself, as he sat down.

"I don't know," Nia said while shooting nervous glances around, "something big must have happened."

Brandon rested his chin on a fist as he contemplated what could have caused such an uproar. The waiter then swung by, dropping off the ordered drinks hastily and started to retreat.

"Hey!" Brandon called. The waiter turned around. "What's going on?" Brandon asked.

"You haven't heard?!" The waiter exclaimed in shock, "war has broken out!"

"What?" Brandon asked clearing his ears, "I must have heard wrong."

"The news just came in!" The waiter said in a panic, "an Ardanian war machine opened fire onto Urayan troops in the neutral zone!"

"Temperantia," Brandon frowned, "I thought that there weren't supposed to be anything there other than some troops."

"You thought right. Turns out that Mor Ardain was working on a project of theirs. They were developing something based on recently rediscovered blueprints. A special team was sent by Indol to stop the violence and try to create a peace negotiation, then someone assassinated the Ardanian Emperor right before it could happen."

Brandon, Nia, and Dromarch all gaped at the news.

The waiter continued, "now The Ardanian war machine has declared war thinking that the entire thing was a setup by us!"

Brandon clenched a fist under the table, "thank you." He nodded at the waiter who scurried off.

He looked over at Nia as he stood, "good thing I ordered to go," he joked. He then sobered as his face turned grim, "we're going to have to hurry."

…..

The trio had been traveling for just under a day. Dromarch had offered to pull the wagon and Brandon had happily taken him up on it. However, beyond that the trip had been in complete silence. Nia had started to worry over the stormy expression on Brandon's face.

"... Hey Brandon?" Nia said softly.

Brandon turned his head slightly in acknowledgement.

"Back in the cafe… why did you say we needed to hurry?" Nia asked, "we can't do anything about the war…"

Brandon paused, "remember? Rex said he was going to Indol… and Indol sent out a special team…" He trailed off, letting Nia finish the thought for herself.

"You think Rex was part of the special envoy?" Nia asked. Brandon nodded grimly.

"I'm not certain of this but it seems like whenever something happens, Rex is caught up in the middle of it somehow," Brandon grimaced, "plus, remember how the waiter said there was an assassination, who's the best assassin in Alrest right now?"

Nia's eyes widened in realization.

"Yeah, the one with advanced technology, the one with an agenda against the world, the very assassin that we're after right now." Brandon's eyebrows knit together in worry. He knew that with Mythra and everyone else supporting Rex would be hard to kill but… he couldn't help but be concerned for his adoptive brother. It didn't help that the person that was doing the killing was probably the most dangerous spectre to have ever lived.

"Damn it buckethead," Nia growled, "why is your past so harmful?"

"It's not like I pick my enemies," Brandon said back, "the only thing we can do now is stop her before things get out of hand, we'll just have to rely on Rex and the others to figure out what's going on between the nations."

….

The trio wandered through the massive stomach area of the Urayan titan. They had been trekking through the titan for a while and through the time Brandon had managed to gathered up a fair pile of sticks along the way to the stomach. This was after a week of traveling through the amazing views in Uraya.

As the trio wandered past the acid pools Brandon tossed sticks left and right, watching the time it took for each one to dissolve into the concentrated hydrochloric acid. After hundreds of different attempts he finally witnessed a pool that broke down the stick significantly faster than the other pools. Brandon quickly grabbed the pile of sticks and ran quickly around the area, tossing sticks wildly into different pools

"This is the one," Brandon panted as he sprinted back.

"How do you know?" Nia asked.

"It has to be it, the fact that this acid is so concentrated says that it's new," Brandon reasoned, "all the others are too diluted."

Brandon activated his armor as he gathered up the sheer amount of baking soda that he had prepared several days before. He readied the massive barrel of white powder, bracing it over his knee as he gestured for Nia and Dromarch to back up.

Suddenly the harsh crack of an unsilenced sniper rifle rang out through the air. Brandon's armor allowed him to react to the sudden sound as he immediately dropped the barrel and turned around. His HUD tracked the travel path of the bullet through just the sound of the retort. He immediately jumped into action, his jump pack's flames roaring to life as he rocketed forward to Nia. He just barely manages to tackle her out of the way of the bullet aimed straight at her head. He winced at Nia's cry of pain with the soft crack of her arm breaking filtering in through the suit's enhanced mic, but sighed in relief: he prefered a broken arm Nia to a dead Nia. His sigh was immediately cut off as he heard something behind him shatter and Nia wailed in anguish.


	16. Chapter 15: Familiar Ending

**Damn. I've read the other recent fanfiction updates and I wish I could write half as well as them. I'm going to have to go back and edit a ton of stuff as well in the future. There are so many things that I wanted to bring out more but I couldn't figure out how to include. I also wasn't really happy about how the interaction between Nia and Brandon went but I couldn't figure out how to make it any better.**

"No!" Nia cried in mental agony. She reached out with a hand then hesitated.

"I understand, my lady," Dromarch wheezed, cordial even to his death, "I wish you the best…" Nia collapsed to her knees sobbing as she watched her only companion for the past several years fade into light particles. Brandon stared in shock. Another death he was unable to prevent, another living being harmed because he was incompetent, another friend hurt because he acted too late.

His eyes went blank as he felt his heart clench. His eyes suddenly sharpened with a near homicidal rage. He ignored Nia as she stared at the remains of Dromarch's core crystal, neither really acknowledging the other. He turned his head toward the area where he heard the retort and raised an arm as his face was filled with fury.

A rod popped up from the top of his gauntlet and started to glow, washing his glowing green faceplate in a hellish red light. He then released the trigger. A massive laser blast fired from the end of the rod. He slowly and methodically moved his arm as he obliterated the entire area, turning the landscape in front of him to ash, dust, and plasma.

A feminine giggle sounded, echoing around the smaller cavern that they were in.

"Aw, did I hit a sensitive spot?" the voice mocked. Brandon's vision went red, then immediately sharpened, his anger giving him a moment of clarity. He focused on the mocking giggling surrounding him, then fired a massive plasma bolt at the perceived source of the sound. The giggling immediately stopped as he heard a grunt of exertion. He saw a shadow flit around the edges of the cavern, the plasma bolt having just barely missed the shadow, connecting with the wall and detonating. Brandon activated the small hooks in his boots, allowing him to brace himself against the shockwave.

Nia, who unlike Brandon did not have an exosuit, was not so fortunate and was blown away by the blast and she collided against the wall.

"Nia!" Brandon cried in shock. He activated his jump pack and rocketed toward her as he heard another crack and the whistle of a bullet soaring through the air. He barely manages to move in front of Nia and let the bullet ricochet off of his armor.

"Nice miss," the spectre mocked as she decloaked, "A shame. it seems all your brainpower is wasted on these useless machines."

"At least I create!" Brandon _screamed,_ "all you do is destroy!"

"I destroy to create a better future, for myself," she smirked

Brandon gritted his teeth in fury, having no response. He couldn't change her morals before, he wouldn't be able to change them now. He raised an arm as electricity started crackling over them, coating the surrounding area in an electrifying blue light. He thrust his fist forward just as the spectre cloaked, the electric bolt bending slightly near the human but missed, carving a gouge out into the ground.

Brandon was then pressed onto the defensive with sniper bolts coming from seemingly everywhere, he rapidly moved around Nia deflecting bullets, who was still sitting in shock uncomprehending of the world around her.

Suddenly Brandon's armor deactivated. Brandon's eyes widened in shock as the armor retracted into the pack.

"Shit," Brandon cursed, "It's always at the worst possible time," Brandon muttered under his breath as he tackled Nia and flung them both out of the way of the sniper round. The blow knocked some sense back into Nia who's immediately started to heal her arm.

"Run! Get out of here!" Brandon yelled, "we can't take her!"

"I'm not leaving you behind!" Nia yelled back, her voice wavering as she grabbed his arm, "I can't lose you too!"

Brandon suddenly jumped back, wrenching his arm out of Nia's grip as he shoved her out of the way. The bullet whizzed between them, burrowing into the ground. Brandon turned to the patch of empty air with a glare. Another crack rang through the air. Brandon threw himself sideways just slightly too late. He cried out in pain as the bullet passed through his arm. He heard the click of an empty magazine and a curse following immediately after it.

He took that opportunity to charge forward with reckless abandon, his only goal in mind to kill the spectre before she could hurt anyone else. However, the spectre had already reloaded and was taking wild shots at him as she backpedaled as fast as she could. Brandon zigzagged, making is movement as erratic and unpredictable as possible but even then he took a couple glancing shots that tore angry red lines into his skin. Brandon finally managed to close the distance and threw out a heavy punch that landed solidly on the spectre's chest. She groaned and stumbled back as she flickered back into existence, the cloaking device having been shattered with the blow.

"Gah!" the spectre exclaimed, extremely annoyed, "do you know how long it'll take me to rebuild that?"

Brandon didn't respond, choosing simply to run in again. The spectre easily brought up her rifle and blocked, the reinforced metal holding against Brandon's blow. The two exchanged several attacks, neither really gaining any sort of advantage over the other. The martial artist and stealth assassin were locked in a deadly dance, at some point the spectre had chosen to simply discard her rifle, instead choosing to draw the dagger concealed on her person.

Brandon attempted to use the electrical fields in his gauntlets to rip the knife out of her hands but the spectre easily predicted it, instead choosing to use the momentum of the magnetic attraction to help her propel herself forward. Brandon's eyes widened in surprise as he brought up a gauntlet to counter. He easily grabbed the dagger and squeezed, the thin metal unable to resist the force of his gauntlets. The spectre attempted to knee his stomach but Brandon let go at the last second and threw himself backwards. He was about to rocket forward again when "halt Ardanian scum!" a voice rang through the small cavern.

Brandon glanced over to see several Urayan guards, as well as a couple mercenaries appear over a small ridge. Brandon let out a curse as he turned back to face the spectre… who had already melted back into the shadows and disappeared. "Looks like I'm always one step ahead, have fun with the authorities," her rapidly fading voice called ou. Brandon gritted his teeth in fury. He quickly glanced around and took stock of the situation. It seemed that the Urayans had completely missed the injured Nia who was laying as still as possible in a corner.

Brandon gritted his teeth as he looked over his new assailants. He twitched in recognition at the mercs, realizing that some of them were from Garfont.

"Come quietly, please," one of them said, almost begging, knowing full well how strong Brandon was.

Brandon narrowed his eyes as he made a subtle gesture to Nia to leave as he raised his hands, acting compliant. She put up no argument and snuck away from the area without the Urayans noticing. Breathing a sigh of relief, he slowly brought his hands together as the guards cautiously approached him. He then sprung into action, hitting controls to activate his jump pack and he rocketed past the guards.

He kept the pack going at maximum capacity until he ran into Nia. The two sprinted away from the area, choosing to avoid all areas with any intelligent life. The two hunkered down in a small remote area, neither of them really knowing where they were.

Brandon passed out soon after that having completely exhausted himself. He flitted in and out of consciousness as the pain fully registered. A fever started working itself up as the wounds all over his body started to take on an infection. Nia applied some basic first aid with the little supplies that they two of them had. She waited until she was sure he was fully unconscious with the help of sleeping medicine. She started drawing in the ether from the air as she placed her hands over his chest and let out a pulse of healing. Brandon unconsciously sighed in relief as his fever faded and his cuts closed up without even leaving a scar.

Nia let out her own breath, one that she didn't even realize that she was holding as her entire body relaxed. She suddenly realized just how tired she was having been tense for the entire day. She curled up and immediately fell asleep.

….

Nia awoke drenched in sweat. She sat up panting. "It's just a dream," she repeated to herself, chanting it to reassure herself. For the first time since joining up with Torna her old nightmare had returned to her. The nightmare that she would be found, the nightmare of her family's death. She looked around for Dromarch… only to realize that he was dead too. She curled up, head between her knees as she sobbed. Another body to add to the list of people she had failed to save. Another that her hesitation had created.

Hours seem to have passed but she knew that it could only have been several minutes. She rose unsteadily and turned to check on Brandon… only he wasn't there. She spun around rapidly in a panic, looking around desperately for the wayward inventor. There were no signs that Brandon had been anywhere in the vicinity recently. Her head swam in a panic. Was she sure that he had been fully unconscious before she had used her powers? Had she been careful enough around him? There was no way! Even if he had been conscious he had been delirious with infection and pain. There was no way he could have distinguished fiction from reality.

She suddenly felt disgusted with herself: the spectre had escaped, Dromarch was dead. Brandon was now wanted by the Urayan authorities, and all she could think about was whether or not anyone had learned her secret.

"Think Nia! Think!" she muttered quietly to herself, "if I was a stupid inventor... where would I go?"

….

Brandon regretted his decision to go to Tantal. He had thought with how off the map it was it would be an ideal place for him to hide as well as a decent place to start his search again. He trekked through the snow, shivering all the while. He had seriously overestimated his ability to withstand the cold. He had felt the cold even from the cargo bay of the ship that he had been stowing away on. He had thought that he could bear through it easily. Turns out he was wrong. He wondered briefly to himself if it had been such a good idea to abandon Nia. He shook his head to clear it of doubt. The cold must have been getting to him. If it weren't for him, Dromarch would still be alive. If it weren't for him, Nia would still have a home. If it weren't for him, all of Alrest wouldn't be in danger. All he could ever do is hurt people, cause chaos through the world. He wanted so desperately to find a small area where he could curl up and fall into the endless sleep called death. But he needed to atone for his mistakes, the reasons why the world was slowly falling apart. Only then, once he had fixed everything, could he finally rest.

With that in mind, he trudged on through the snow, wrapping his vest around himself as best he could, swearing at himself for only having that one vest for warmth. After hours of walking from the port he finally made it to the capital. He walked in after a very cursory inspection from the guards.

"Looks like even the guards can't be bothered," Brandon mused to himself. Tantal had been under extreme economic strain lately with all of their crops failing and a nationwide famine had spread across the nation. Tantal was also so off the map that very few even knew it existed, much less care enough to send aid with the war brewing between Mor Ardain and Uraya. Brandon had been one of the few to actually know about the frozen titan and send aid. He had regularly sent crates of his technology to try to help them through their lives with any kind of heating or greenhouse tech that he could build.

Tantal's isolationist policy didn't help either. While it was unaffected by the war, it also meant that they were completely cut off from the rest of the world with little aid coming in. This was plainly obvious as Brandon walked around the capital. He noticed most shop windows dim with no life in them. The markets were mostly barren with what little activity seemed like black market deals.

Brandon sighed as he found a small inn in a back corner of the capital. He walked in and got himself a room. He winced as he cracked open his wallet to pay, his funds were getting alarmingly low. He gave the gold regretfully, he knew that if he stayed on the streets he would easily freeze to death. The moment he got into the room he collapsed onto the bed face first. After allowing himself a small break he sat back up and crossed his arms in contemplation.

He had no idea where to go from there. The only upside was that he was now more in his element: the cold. He supposed he could have been fine heading up to Mor Ardain but he couldn't bring himself to face up to the heat again.

"They must be recruiting every warm body available, if they got the neutral mercs involved," Brandon grumbled to himself as he tried to figure out a plan.

He decided that the first thing that he needed to do was to head out and grab himself a heavy coat or cloak. He didn't really have any other choice if he wanted to explore Tantal. He heaved out another heavy sigh as he checked his wallet. His funds were really running low.

….

"Thank you for your custom!" the street vendor said, happy with his first sale in awhile. Brandon just grumbled back as he slipped into the still cold fabric, annoyed at how his normally frugal lifestyle was slowly crumbling. He continued on past the market square without really having a destination in mind, just trying to move around to regain some feeling in his numb limbs.

He re-concentrated on the task at hand. He had to figure out where the damn spectre had slithered off to. She definitely abandoned Uraya and with the insane military presence, Mor Ardain would be out of the question. That was why he had come to Tantal. It was a suitable location for someone to disappear to. The only problem was that at this point Brandon was going off of gut instinct. He knew that she would probably avoid areas where he would logically go… but as much as his brain was telling him that she wasn't here, something seemed to attract him to Tantal.

Suddenly he spotted a flash of yellow and a glimpse of what could have been ivory hair. He shook his head and when he stopped it was gone. He bit his lip in apprehension. She could read him pretty well but there was no way she could read him that well… right? He pulled the hood over his head just in case. He had come here specifically to avoid everyone else. The middle of nowhere where no one in their right minds would come. He had banked on the fact that Nia being from Gormott, a relatively backwater titan, she'd have no idea that Tantal would even exist.

He started speed walking away from the yellow flash. Whether it was her or not, better safe than sorry. He suddenly felt someone grab his arm and yank him into an alleyway. Brandon was about to yell out an indignant yell when the person slapped him across the face and he was stunned into silence.

"What the hell were you thinking?" a furious Wels- Gormotti voice yelled into his face. "You just left me there! On Uraya!"

Brandon flinched as he looked down at the ground, unable to meet Nia's eyes.

"Do you know how much I panicked when I woke up?" Nia continued ranting, "no note or anything! You abandoned me! What happened to we're family? I just lost Dromarch!" Her eyes softened, "I can't lose you too."

Brandon's jaw set. "... I left to protect you."

"What?"

"I left to protect you alright?" Brandon said suddenly raising his voice, "I lost countless friends during the war because of my miscalculations. I thought that with a new life, a new world it could be different, but I still lost people because of my blunders. I can't- I can't handle losing more friends."

"... Looks like we're in the same boat then," Nia said, "we're in this together."

"No," Brandon pushed her away firmly, "this is my problem, I left you in Uraya where you'd be safe."

"Safe? Safe from what?" Nia cried, "from the spectre that has your panties in a twist? Get your head out of your arse! There is a war going on! Torna is still on the loose. Nowhere is safe right now!"

"... Fine," Brandon finally relented, "just promise me you'll stay safe."

Nia gave a small smile back, "I can take care of myself, let's just finish your revenge plot so we can find Rex."

….

"Thanks," Nia said as she caught the cloak that Brandon threw at her. Nia slipped on the cloak quietly as the pair wandered the streets of Tantal.

"What exactly are we doing?" Nia finally asked as they made another loop of the small market.

"Give me a moment," Brandon held up a finger as he scanned the area. "There!" He rushed over to a particular stand as Nia trailed slowly behind.

"Here," Brandon handed Nia a packed bag.

"What's this?"

"Well… I figured you'd still want to be the… uh field medic so I got you some supplies," Brandon explained sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head, "and uh… I've also build replicas of… Dromarch's weapon," Brandon trailed off. Tears welled up in Nia's eyes then she suddenly wrapped Brandon in a hug.

"Thank you…" she whispered.

Brandon's face flushed red, "it's nothing really," he opened up a compartment in Nia's bag and pulled out the chakrams.

He gestured to some of the controls as he went through the basic tutorial as Nia nodded along. He pushed a button and the blades sprung to life.

"Just know that the blades are plasma so be careful when you're handling them, they're probably not balanced the way your old ones were either," Brandon said, wrapping up his crash course.

"I think I'll manage," Nia said, "thanks."

Brandon flashed her a small grin, his earlier worries slowly fading then suddenly the pair felt the massive titan shake.

"What the f- hell?" Brandon yelled, "earthquake?" He paused as the tremors died down, "that can't be right, no fault lines," he murmured to himself. The capital was in a frenzy. People were running around with no semblance of what to do. Suddenly the group of people closest to the palace started sprinting toward the gates. Brandon glanced over. A regal looking figure was moving around from group of people to group of people. He would say something and gesture and afterward the people would start heading towards the city exit. Brandon and Nia headed over.

"What's going on?" Brandon asked.

"Genbu is sinking into the cloud sea," the man replied, "you need to evacuate now."

"How do we stop it?" Brandon asked.

"I've already sent a team to deal with it but you all need to evacuate now in case they don't succeed."

Brandon clenched a fist, "how do we stop it?" he repeated, "we can help."

The man sighed, "I told you I've already sent a team to-"

"Is this team competent?" Brandon interrupted.

The man looked surprised at the audacity, "the leader is the driver of the Aegis-"

Brandon and Nia glanced at each other, "Rex?" They exclaimed.

"Yes I believe that was his name- you know him?"

"He's my brother," Brandon said, "are you going to help us or not?"

The man sighed, "Gormotti and Leftherian… I supposed I can't stop you if you really wanted to help. Alright then." He called over a guard and gave him a stone tablet. "I don't really see how you can help, the omega-"

"Omega Fetter?" Brandon cried in shock.

"You know of the fetter?" The man said in disbelief, "that was one of most jealously guarded state secrets! Who are you?"

"I built the damn thing," Brandon spat then nodded at Nia. The pair sprinted off, the guard stumbling behind them to catch up.

"Hmph," the king of Tantal crossed his arms, "the driver of the Aegis sure does attract some interesting people. It looks like history is in the making again," he murmured to himself then shook his head as he continued the evacuation.

….

Brandon and Nia were on a full sprint. They did slow down a little to let the guard take the lead but were going near full speed. In order to cut down on time, Brandon would grab both Nia and the guard and use his jump pack to allow them to drop massive heights without taking any damage. The trio managed to make their way to the large ravine-like area that led to the fetter.

"Here!" the guard said, "only a little further-"

The guard was cut off as a sword emerged from his back. The body of the soldier slowly slid of the blade to reveal a girl with long black hair. She haughtily dismissed the blade weapon as three other figures revealed themselves.

"Akhos! Patroka! Mikhail!" Nia growled.

"Tina," Brandon's vision tunneled. The spectre in question flashed a smirk back.

"Thanks for leading us right to the controller!" She waved cheerfully.

The Tornans nodded at each other and they split off. Patroka took a stance as she resummoned her blade weapon as the other three headed into the ravine.

"No blade," Brandon muttered to himself, "she's a blade." Realization dawned.

Nia winced, "yeah, most of Torna are blades of some sort."

"I've wanted to do this for a long time traitor!" Patroka yelled as she twirled her lance at Nia who blanched.

Brandon gritted his teeth as he activated his gauntlets. He nudged the still stiff Nia who shook herself then drew her weapons. Patroka lunged at the pair as she brandished her weapon. Brandon countered immediately, grabbing the end of the lance and twirling her around him, slamming her into the ground.

"I don't have time for you," he growled, "surrender or die."

Patroka spit as she rose, "surrender to you? I haven't finished killing you yet!"

Brandon shrugged, "have it your way then." He popped his knuckles right before he charged in swinging, Nia running alongside him in support. Brandon thrust a fist forward to start the engagement, Patroka just barely managed to move her head to the side to dodge and is immediately forced backward by Nia moving in as well, slashing her plasma rings horizontally. Brandon rolled to the side underneath Nia's arm and punched the Tornan in the gut causing her to double over. Brandon pressed his advantage and immediately followed up with an uppercut to the face, instantly knocking her out.

Brandon nodded at Nia and started sprinting through the ravine, Nia following closely behind. They passed through a small tunnel and they arrived at the end into the chasm, just in time to see Boreas stabbed through the core crystal.

 **Hm, my chapters seem to end on similar notes.**


	17. Chapter 16: Losing Streak

**I think I'm going to put up a RWBY fanfic. I'm thinking that I can put in some work to do something similar to what I've done here, put Brandon into the world of Remnant and see what thing change and what stays the same! The show itself is decent but the world that was created is something that I wanted to explore.**

 **Sorry if the update to the A/N pinged you.**

 **Now on with the show!**

"No!" Brandon let out a sharp cry before he could stop himself. He cursed under his breath as a man with familiar white hair but unfamiliar black armor turned around. "Jin," he heard Nia hiss beside him.

"That's… Jin?" Brandon said, mostly to himself, in disbelief. "Where's he been hiding that?..."

Nia gave him a pointed glance with a raised eyebrow. Brandon made to smack his forehead but thought better of it as he saw the flash of his metal gauntlets.

"Right," Brandon muttered, "he's a blade."

"You've got a lot of nerve showing your face," came the ice blade's raspy voice.

"Dude, are you making your voice like that?" Brandon quipped, trying to buy himself some time as he hefted his gauntlets into a defensive position, Nia following along with her plasma rings, "I don't think that's good for your throat."

Jin made as if to lunge at the pair when the titan started rumbling as it burst out above the Cloud Sea. Brandon smirked as the sunlight finally pierced through and reached him, or more importantly: his backpack, which immediately whirred to life with a beep.

"Ha!" Brandon exclaimed as his armor wrapped around him, "doesn't matter how strong you are, I doubt even you can pierce titanium armor."

Suddenly Jin _flickered_ , moving instantly behind Brandon and slashed at Nia who cried in pain as she stumbled backwards, a cut bleeding profusely across her chest. Brandon's eyes widened in shock. He activated his jump pack in retaliation and charged at the Tornan. Jin simply narrowed his eyes and flickered away letting Brandon's gauntleted fist swing through air, moving faster than even Brandon's HUD could follow.

"How are you moving so fast?" He growled in irritation.

"I have control over all elementary particles," came the curt reply, "with this, I can accelerate my body to the speed of light."

"That's impossible," Brandon growled, "there's no way you can manipulate your mass like that."

Jin simply shrugged, "believe it or not, you'll be dead soon either way."

"I may die," Brandon said, "but I'm not going to let you win. You're after the Omega Fetter correct?"

Jin's eyes narrowed. "Don't do something you're going to regret, boy."

Brandon smirked, not that anyone could see it behind his faceplate, "Omega Fetter!" he called, "voice command one one zero one nine, initiate emergency lockdown!" The Fetter immediately responded from Rex's bag, the soft blue glow immediately turning red.

Jin turned to Brandon with an absolute fury in his eyes. He gave no response, simply choosing to flicker around at the speed of light, hacking and slashing at every member of the team hundreds of times before they could even blink. They all cried in pain in near synchrony as they collapsed, energy near spent. Brandon was the only one that remained on his feet.

"You seem to rely on moving as fast as light," Brandon noted calmly. Inside, however, his fury was raging forth, threatening to break through his dam on his emotions. "Let's even the playing field." With that he pointed a fist at the floor and fired out a small device which immediately started humming. Jin tried to accelerate himself to stop whatever Brandon was doing but found himself slowed a considerable amount, maybe down to the speed of Brandon's jump pack, still fast, but slow enough for Brandon to track.

"What?" Jin exclaimed in disbelief as he slowed to a stop.

"Gravity generator!" Brandon exclaimed as he stomped on the device, burying it underneath the ground, "not powerful enough to significantly affect the surrounding area, but enough to slow you down."

Malos stepped forward with slight concern but stopped when Jin gestured at him. He sped forward as Brandon activated his jump pack. The two collided but Jin's superior skill pressed Brandon onto the defensive even with his armor. Brandon's HUD tracked Jin's sword movements, barely allowing Brandon to block and counter attack but was quickly frustrated. Even with two hands he couldn't beat Jin's one weapon. With the speed that he moved at it was as good as having two hands. Brandon, knowing he couldn't keep it up forever, tried to end the fight right there by grabbing Jin's sword and immediately delivered a powerful kick to the man's stomach. Jin barely gave and the shock simply ran back up through Brandon's leg.

Brandon cried in pain as he stumbled backward. Jin stalked forward, pausing to put his sword through the gravity generator, then continued to stand in front of the young inventor. He flickered again, moving fast enough to test every single chunk of Brandon's armor, and he eventually found a weak point. He stabbed his sword through the chink and buried his sword deep into Brandon's shoulder. He cried out in pain but was still lucid enough to think. He jerked himself just enough so that the sword slid out of his arm but remained embedded in his armor. He then deactivated it, hoping that the folding of his armor would shatter the sword, but even if it didn't, he had to deactivate his armor: if he didn't the blood would clog up the systems.

Jin didn't fall for it, he just managed to pull his sword out and took a step back. Brandon charged forward unarmored in a last desperate attempt to deal some damage. Jin simply dodged as the last of Brandon's strength left him. Brandon collapsed to his knees as he clutched his shoulder. Jin walked forward and kicked his face. Brandon cried out as he collapsed onto his back. Rex's eyes widened as he finally managed to stand up. He raised his sword to attack but suddenly odd shapes suddenly dropped down from the sky and landed.

"Artificial Blades?" Tora cried out in surprise as they started restraining each member of the party.

"You!" Brandon cried out in anger at the spectre as he wills himself back to his feet. He stumbles a few meters in her direction before Jin delivers a swift kick to his back. He then planted a foot on his head and slowly slid his sword into Brandon's arm.

"Unlike Akhos," Jin said pointedly, "I know what is and isn't vital. I know what causes the most pain, and you're going to feel some of the most excruciating pain known to mankind if you don't unlock the Omega Fetter." He dug his blade deeper as Brandon cried out in pain. He then twisted his sword, separating muscle from bone as Brandon screamed. Jin kept on repeating for what seemed like eternity, wounding Brandon further and further. Eventually Mòrag couldn't take it. In a sudden burst of desperation, her strength surpassed that of the blade holding her down. She charged at Jin only to be caught by Mikhail, Brandon still screaming incoherently in the background.

"Stop!" a desperate voice called out from the background.

Jin paused in surprise as he glanced back over his shoulder to see Pyra barely standing. "Stop," she repeated, "or I'll…"

"Or you'll what?"

Pyra narrowed her eyes in concentration as a red beam took form around her.

"Or I'll annihilate myself," she said in determination.

"Try it," Jin dared, "I'll just stop it again, just like last time."

"That was when I was using the main weapon without distortion." Brandon's eyes widened despite the pain.

"If I were to activation space distortion… this close to Alrest it would shred this area as it rended space and time. I wasn't willing to use it before… but it's better than letting my friends die for nothing… and I'm assuming you need me alive."

"How unexpected," Jin said, "then what are your terms?"

"They leave, alive, and I'll bring the Omega Fetter," Jin twitched and the beam grew in intensity, "try anything and none of us will leave here alive."

A tense pause. "Very well then," Jin finally relented as he slowly pulled his blade out of Brandon's body. Brandon lifted his head weakly to see the harsh red light dim as Pyra walked over to Rex's downed body.

"Pyra," Rex groaned, "you…"

She gave him a soft smile as she pulled the Omega Fetter out of his bag. Her smile faded as she pressed her lips into a thin line the moment she was facing away from Rex. She slowly started walking toward Brandon.

"Don't do this for me…" he whispered, "I'm not worth letting them win."

She gave him a soft smile as she knelt in front of him and whispered back, "you mean the world to the rest of us, regardless of what you think of yourself. Especially to Rex." She held out the small supercomputer.

Brandon grimaced. "Please," Pyra whispered, "for Rex?"

Brandon flinched, "Omega Fetter, voice command one one zero two zero, unlock access," he said with some hesitation. The stark red glow emanating from the computer changed back to the core crystal blue hue it normally adorned as the security protocol was dropped. Pyra nodded in satisfaction. She rose again and stumbled the remaining few steps to Jin and promptly collapsed into his arms.

Jin's eyes softened as if in remembrance. "Look at the state of you." He whispered, a trace of his old emotions slipping into his words for a second. Rex's eyes widened in shock.

"You hadn't even noticed?" Jin said in disgust, "your own blade and you didn't even…" he trailed off and gave a glance at Brandon who had already passed out from blood loss. "No doubt you even forgot about your own brother who nearly gave his life for your fight. Everyone around you injured, but you could only think of yourself." He paused.

"You had awakened the Aegis… I thought you might have been different, but it looks like you're just a fool."

Rex Blanched at the comment.

"A pitiful, childish, fool." Jin spat the last word as if were poisonous as he stalked off, the rest of Torna following closely behind. Once they were out of vision the artificial blades took off into the sky, leaving Rex and his team behind. Nia rushed to her feet and sprinted over to Brandon, immediately throwing open the pack he had given her not too long before. She readily ignored her own wounds as she applied as much of his medicine as possible before she even considered slowing down.

Rex slowly got to his feet in the background as he raised his head to the sky.

"PYRA!"

….

Brandon awoke with a jolt. He tried to sit up then immediately regretted it as his wounds flared up. He slumped back down with a sigh to try to ease the pain. He noticed then that he couldn't feel his legs. In a panic he angled his head to look down his body to see that Nia had fallen asleep on them. Not trusting his voice, he reached out and touched her shoulder. She bolted awake in an instant as her eyes flew around the room wildly. They then settled on Brandon. She gave a small gasp, "you're awake?" she said as if questioning it to herself. He nodded.

She immediately sprung to her feet and rushed out of the room. Brandon groaned as the full memories of… how long had he been out for? He shook his head. It didn't matter. He had stupidly let Nia, and everyone else back into his life without a single thought or concern for their safety. He rose to his feet unsteadily and started walking out the door.

A small cheer erupted as he emerged into the lobby of the inn. Brandon simply ignored it, making a beeline for Rex. He stopped in front of his table and paused. He considered Rex for a second before taking off his backpack and plunking it down in front of him. Rex's eyes widened in confusion.

"You know how this works right?" Brandon asked then turned toward the exit without waiting for a response and started walking.

"Wait Brandon!" Nia called and Brandon paused, turning his head to look over his shoulder, "you can't just go out yet, your body's still recovering."

"I'm fine," came the curt response.

"But… where are you going?"

Brandon's eyes suddenly dropped to the floor. "Away."

"Wait, let me grab my stuff…"

"I'm going alone."

"What?" One of Nia's cat-like ears perked up.

"It's just… I'm leaving."

"What… Where are you going?"

"I don't know," Brandon clenched a fist in frustration, "probably to Argentum…"

"What the bloody hell do you mean Argentum?" Nia exploded, "what about Pyra? Do you know how desperate the situation is? Or have you finally lost it you bloody idiot?"

"What do you expect me to do?" Brandon yelled back, "I could barely even touch the guy! He didn't even flinch at the one hit I landed! I'm always the weakest god damn link in this team!"

"Are you kidding me?" Nia cried, "I don't even have a blade anymore! My best friend for years is dead! You think that you're the weakest link?"

"Yes!" He exclaimed, "what do you think that I've done so far? I dragged you along on a selfish side quest that got Dromarch killed! I'm the one who caused the need for any of this in the first place with the Omega Fetter or the Artifices!" his voice suddenly grew softer, "you'd all be better off without me."

"Are you kidding me?" Nia exclaimed, "are you going to abandon me again?" Rex's eyes suddenly flashed as he clenched a fist.

"I…" Brandon looked unsure of himself at that moment. "... yes." He finally said after a moment of hesitation. "If I don't I'm probably going to get the rest of you killed…"

"What?" Nia said indignantly, "is this your messed up idea of protecting us? We're going with or without you into danger. If you aren't around it'll just make things harder for us."

"Yeah? Well what do you expect me to-" Suddenly Rex reared up from his seat and struck Brandon across the face with a fist. Brandon was taken completely off guard and tumbled backward down, knocking over several barrels in the process. He groaned and rubbed his head as he stood back up awkwardly.

"We expect you to… I expect you to do what you've always done!" Rex screamed, "You were my hero! The one who could fix everything with your intelligence, the one who proved that you could overcome any challenge if you set your mind to it." He paused to take a breath. "If it weren't for you, Malos probably would have managed to kill me before this journey even took off back on that ship."

Brandon clenched his fists as his frustration grew. He stiffly turned back toward the exit and slowly marched forward. Rex moved to intercept again but Nia just huffed.

"If he want to leave, let him. We'll save Pyra ourselves," she said, "this loser isn't the Brandon we joined up with."

Brandon froze for a second before continuing on.

Growing desperate, Nia changed tactics. She ran up to Brandon and grabbed his arm.

"God damn it Brandon!" she yelled, "are you dense or what? We're trying to make you stay! You're part of our family. You're one of us."

Brandon flinched and stiffened.

"Please," Nia almost begged, "stay with us."

Brandon turned around with a tear shining in his eye. "Why do you have to make this so difficult?"

"Who was it that got me to stay with you in the first place?" Nia said, "I'm just returning the favor."

"Why can't you see I'm trying to protect you?"

"I can protect myself you know," Nia huffed.

"I know it's just that…"

"Just what?"

"... Nia…" Brandon paused, unsure of himself. "... I love you."

Nia's eyes widened, "what?" The hand she had on his arm went slack.

Brandon's lips tightened as he flinched away from her. He jerked himself out of her grip and sprinted out the door of the inn. Nia staggered back in shock and collapsed to her knees. Rex started for the door, "chum!" Rex paused.

"My old man's calling for us!"

"But Brandon!" Rex exclaimed.

"He can wait."

"But!..."

"We can find him later," Zeke said, "he's made it clear that he doesn't want anyone to follow him. We need to figure out how to get Pyra back first."

"But…"

"He's right," Nia said as she stood back up, "but we can split up. I'm going to go track down Brandon."

Rex clenched a fist, "... Fine then," he looked over to the rest of the team, "let's go." He turned back to face Nia, "promise me you'll find him and bring him back."

Nia nodded then sprinted out the door.

…..

Brandon slowly dropped his sprint to a slow walk. He continued to look around in the capital. He finally spotted his target. He stepped into the building and started up the stairs. When he finally reached the roof he took a seat at the edge and hung his legs off the side.

He let out a deep sigh. He didn't have the will to throw himself off, he knew that… he just needed time to think. Somewhere where the others couldn't find him. He heard a click behind him.

"I guess I'm that easy to read, huh?" he sighed as he turned around.

"Yeah, you kind of are," Nia sighed as she took a seat next to him, "still took me a couple hours to find you. Not exactly easy to find someone when there's no one left to ask directions."

"You know I meant everything I said earlier," Brandon sighed, "I… don't really know what to do…"

Nia rubbed her knuckles into his head as Brandon squirmed and complained. "Yeah, that's why you have me around buckethead."

Brandon laughed, "yeah I suppose so." He coughed, "sorry if I made things awkward." He rubbed his head sheepishly.

"What?" Nia asked in confusion, "wait, oh, that thing you said earlier." She giggled, "now's not the time for that. We need to head back, I'd bet that Rex has an answer by now."

Brandon sighed, "I'm not going with you."

Nia groaned in frustration, "are you kidding me? Look, it would be safer for all of us if you came, we'd have a better chance. You're the one who stood up to them and actually held out."

"I'd just slow you guys down, especially Rex if he did get this solution."

"I thought it would come to this," Nia sighed, "sorry about this."

"Sorry about wh-ugh," he grunted in pain as Nia punched him in the gut and he passed out.

"Sorry about that," she picked up the unconscious inventor and started heading toward the rendezvous, "ugh, why do you have to be so heavy?"

….

"The Third sword huh?" Nia said, "that's our plan, find another legendary blade to fight the other legendary blade to get our original legendary blade back?"

Rex chuckled nervously, "yeah, sounds about right."

"Why does this not surprise me?" Nia rolled her eyes, "where is this legendary Third Sword then?"

"Uh… It's somewhere back home, at Fonsett."

"Somewhere, are you telling us you don't know exactly where?"

Rex scratched his head nervously and chuckled, "yeah?"

"Why you!..."

"If I may interject!" Gramps exclaimed and hovered out of Rex's helmet.

"What Gramps!" Rex exclaimed, "you know where it is?"

"But of course!" Gramps exclaimed proudly, "I was appointed as the guardian after all."

"And you couldn't have told us this earlier?" Nia vented in frustration.

Gramps shrugged, "I had to wait to see what would happen, Addam didn't appoint me for no reason after all."

Nia frowned then shrugged, "Ugh, fine then, I guess we're heading to Fonsett."

 **Damn it Brandon.**


	18. Chapter 17: Love Realized

**Oh shoot, sorry! I meant to have this up yesterday but I fell asleep early.**

 **Interesting, looks like not as many people enjoy my RWBY stuff. Either that or people upload stories fast enough for mine to be pushed down quickly. Ah well, if it doesn't do well enough I may take it down and refocus on this. Until then I'm going to alternate weekly. With summer break drawing near I may start updating every other week until finals are over then I'll probably be able to start to make a lot more updates as well as a couple of new stories. More Xenoblade and RWBY while maybe adding on some more stuff. Please leave a review, it keeps me wanting to write more chapters.**

 **Also, thank you RWBYsoul5 and mgasmsms! People that support my work make me want to keep on writing!**

 **Now on with the show!**

"This 'Third Sword' had better be nearby," Nia grunted as she half dragged, half carried the unconscious inventor through the long trek to the village, "this idiot's really heavy."

"Poppi could always carry Brandon!" Poppi offered.

"Thanks," Nia said, "but I feel like he's my responsibility right now." Nia sighed, "where is its hiding place anyways?"

Gramps poked his head out of Rex's helmet, "it's just over there," he pointed.

"What?" Rex exclaimed in disbelief, "the Village Guardian? That's where the Third Sword was hidden?"

"Yes, in the Spirit Crucible Elpys."

"Spirit Crucible?" Nia asked, "how large is this place anyway?"

"Oh," Gramps hummed in thought, "I'd say no more than a few hours of travel."

"A few h…" she slumped, "Poppi, I might just take you up on your offer."

Poppi bounded up to Nia, "allow me!"

"Thanks," Nia murmured as she shifted the weight off of her and onto Poppi.

The group moved to the Village Guardian. Rex followed Gramps' directions to open up the passageway into the Spirit Crucible.

"A few warnings before we enter," Gramps said, "there is a reason why this is the location where the blade is hidden. There are no traps, puzzles, or defenses aside from what Adam installed at the very end. Rather, this location wa chosen for its natural obstacles. There are Ether draining particles throughout the entire cave meaning that there is no atmospheric ether so blade will be entering at their own risk. These particles also react with oxygen to produce light so it will get harder and harder to breathe as we descend into the cavern."

"We can probably deal with that for a little while," Nia said, "but what defense is at the very end of it?"

"Aside from the monsters?" Gramps hummed to himself, "I don't know. Addam never gave me information on his final challenge, only that it would test to see if the person is worthy."

"Great," Nia said flatly, "so we're going to be oxygen and ether starved while combating monsters and whatever challenge that this legendary hero set up. Sounds like a deathtrap, wonderful."

"Let's get this over with," Morag sighed as she took the first step into the cavern and the rest of the group followed.

Only several minutes into the journey, Brighid already started stumbling.

"Brighid?" Morag paused.

"Apologies, Lady Morag," her voice wavered, "the ether drain is already getting to me."

"Are you sure you're alright?" Morag asked, concern etched into her face.

"Yes, I'm fine," Brighid gave a small smile.

"Pandy…" Zeke whispered, "I want you to go back up."

"What?" She cried indignantly, "no! Not unless you go with me!"

"Pandy…"

"You promised. You promised me," Pandoria cried, "you're just as susceptible to this place as I am!"

Zeke sighed.

"What does she mean?" Rex asked.

"Did I tell you about the time I almost bloody died?"

"Uh no?"

"Hmph, well… I was on a mission with Pandy but not everything went to plan. I was wounded, gravely wounded and on the brink of death. I collapsed before we could come anywhere near civilization," he chuckled, "the Praetor's actually the one who saved me. Took me to Indol and patched me up, but he needed something to fully heal me…" he pulled his jacket partly to the side revealing an implanted core crystal shard.

"So you'd be a flesh… no wait, a blade eater!" Rex exclaimed.

"A blade eater huh?" Nia whispered, her voice only audible to those with her sensitive Gormotti ears.

Brandon coughed from his perch on Poppi who promptly dumped him to the ground.

"Ugh," he groaned, "where am I?"

"Nia you ass!" he suddenly exclaimed as he jumped to his feet.

"What? You wouldn't listen to me!" she responded.

"What the hell? You punched me!" he cried indignantly, "hard enough to knock me out!"

"If I hadn't you wouldn't have come and we need every pair of hands on board."

"I- Ugh," he slumped over, "fine."

"See that wasn't so hard now was it?" Nia mocked.

"Shut up," Brandon grumbled under his breath as he rose to his feet, "insufferable Gormotti."

"You know that I can hear you."

"You know that I know."

Mòrag rolled her eyes and led the way forward.

"Come on lovebirds," Zeke teased, "we've got a sword to find."

Zeke chuckled as both their faces went red as they ran to catch up, shouting denials all the way.

….

"Guys," Brandon panted, "I think we should take a break."

Despite their bantering, Brandon and Nia were relying on each other for support by then. Both lacking the strict military training of Mòrag and the sheer power of Zeke.

"What? But-"

"Rex," Brandon said as he gave a meaningful glance to their blades.

Rex looked around in surprise, noticing everyone else's fatigue for the first time.

"We're going to need to conserve our strength."

"I'm sorry," Rex looked sheepish, "I had no idea."

Brandon sat down heavily and tried to open up to allow for easier breathing. Eventually, he couldn't stand it and started digging around in his pack and pulled out a cylinder. He put it over his mouth and took a breath and sighed in relief. He held it out to Nia.

"What?"

"Oxygen tank. Pure O two. Used in high altitudes, it might help here."

"Oh… Thanks," she took the offered tank and brought the nozzle up to her mouth.

"Not like that," Brandon chastised, "you need to stretch out with your head back as you take the breath or the air isn't going to circulate fully through your lungs."

"Salvager trick?" Nia panted.

"Yeah," Brandon admitted, "though these were recreated through salvage." He grinned unrepentantly, "this one, I made. Better quality than the ones that Rex has."

Rex huffed.

"Hey!" Brandon exclaimed, "you're the one who insisted that the ones that you used were sufficient."

"Bah! Whatever."

Nia lifted the canister to her face again and took a deep breath. "Wow," her eyes widened slightly, "that really did the trick."

"Thought it would."

"Why you buckethead," Nia poked, "holding back on me this entire time."

Brandon chuckled sheepishly, "well… it's been ingrained into my life enough to where I just forgot about it. It was one of the first things I learned when I arrived in this world when I tried to join Rex salvaging. It didn't really stick so I just help out a little here and there. It was pretty much the only thing that the other salvagers taught me."

"Not a big athlete are you?" Nia teased.

Brandon simply shrugged in response.

"Ugh, parents, or I guess parental figures in your case."

Brandon made a noncommittal noise.

"My da was real enough," Nia sighed.

"Ah right, the Gormotti lord," Brandon nodded

Nia nodded, "a real big cheese."

"Of course, Milady," Brandon gave an exaggerated head tilt.

"Ugh," Nia rolled her eyes but smiled, "you're so bad."

"So you keep on telling me."

"Mmh," Nia closed her eyes, "just… your little story reminded me…"

"Of your dad?"

"Yeah, mostly because he just taught me useless shite. Nothing that would serve me now."

Brandon snorted, "that why you hated studying? Because all it did was teach you to be a stuck up princess?"

"Shut it you." Nia sighed and reopened her eyes, "but yeah. Mostly that." She lifted the air can up to her mouth again and took another breath.

"Well," Nia said as she stood up, "I feel much better now." She stumbled before righting herself and playing it off as a stretch.

"Should have given me that sooner."

"I know, I know," Brandon held up his hands defensively. He looked around to the rest of the party, "you guys all good?"

Nods all around. "Well then, let's get going."

….

"Poppi!" Tora cried, "Incendiary barrage!"

"What the hell!" Brandon yelled as he blocked a blow from a giant spider, "I don't care how dire the situation is, you'll bring down the entire cave on top of us!"

"Tora just kidding," Tora responded, "Poppi has no such weaponry."

"Now is not the time for jokes!" Brandon grunted, "without an ether flow, we're sitting ducks here!"

"Tora was getting to that!" the Nopon responded indignantly, "Poppi, activate ether explosion!"

"Aye aye masterpon!" Poppi cried as she unleashed a wave of energy, the short burst of ether mostly dissipating into the air but enough for all the party's blades to be refreshed.

"Why didn't you use that earlier?" Brandon exclaimed as he ineffectively slammed an electrically charged fist into the oversized arachnid.

With her Ether recharged, Brighid was able to summon a vast amount of fire and with the support of Mòrag, reduced the spider to cinders. Brandon slumped in obvious relief.

"Damn it Tora!" Brandon exclaimed as he spun around and stalked up to the Nopon, "what the hell was that about! There are times for jokes and times to be serious!"

"Well… Tora just wanted to make sure that now was correct time," the Nopon explained, "Poppi's ether furnace may be powerful for single blade but to charge up other blades in ether draining cave is not easy task. Ether explosion cannot be used again as it required several parts that burn out in use."

Brandon tilted his head in thought, "what about that final challenge that Addam set up?"

"It seems like it meant to test Rex-Rex no? Tora doubt that challenge will require blade as well."

"I guess," his breath caught and he fell to his knees panting as the lack of air finally worked its way past his adrenaline. Nia took a step forward but Rex beat her to the punch and rushed up, placing a hand on his shoulder. Brandon brushed it off.

"I'm fine," he gasped, "I'm fine…"

"Why don't we take a break?" Rex suggested, "looks like the way forward is blocked anyways."

Brandon nodded in agreement and promptly collapsed onto his back.

"Here," Nia handed him the oxygen tank from earlier in almost a mirror of before. He accepted wordlessly and took several deep breaths. By that point, even Morag had begun to show fatigue for even her military training couldn't keep up with the demands of the Spirit Crucible. In fact the only one who didn't seem to be affected was Rex.

A fact that didn't escape his notice as he chuckled nervously, "I guess all those years diving under the cloud sea paid off huh?"

Brandon groaned, "it wasn't awkward until you made it awkward."

"Sorry," Rex muttered, "just trying to make conversation."

"Ugh, I didn't mean… Nia," Brandon quickly deflected, "you deal with this!"

"ME? What do you want me to do?"

"Quick!"

"I hate you."

Brandon laughed, "lov-" he choked on the words. "Yeah," he finished lamely.

If Nia noticed she decided not to mention it.

"How do we make it past the barrier anyway?" Rex interrupted, not noticing Brandon's sigh of relief.

"Well… that doesn't look that natural. Honestly, I say we just walk up to the thing and see if it opens up for the Aegis driver first before we try blasting it open."

"Hm," Rex considered, "worth a shot. We don't have much time to lose though."

"Are we all good?" Rex addressed the party.

"Yeah!" Nia was the first to spring to her feet, a little too excited.

"You sure?" Brandon asked as he rose unsteadily to his feet, "we could always take some more time resting if you need it."

"I'm sure," Nia said as she did several stretches to prove her point.

The group walked up to the barrier and paused. "What now?" Rex wondered out loud.

As if in response, the chamber started rumbling as the spikes that made up the barrier retracted into the wall. "That works," Brandon said, his voice wavering in mild surprise, "well then, let's get going."

….

Nia swayed as she crossed the bridge spanning a chasm said to be bottomless. She staggered forward, putting every bit of energy she could muster into taking that next step. Her mind started to wander.

"...Nia!" Brandon exclaimed as he gripped her shoulders and shook.

"Wha- huh?"

"Are you sure you're okay? If you fall off this bridge you're as good as dead."

"Oh…" Nia glanced down and felt sick to her stomach, "you must be sick of saving me by now huh?"

"Where did that come from…?" He glanced back, "hey, you guys go on ahead. I'll take a small breather with Nia."

Rex gave him a look but nodded and led the others without complaint.

"You know," Nia suddenly said, "I thought this would be easier with how much I used to run."

"Run?" Brandon asked, "from who?"

"Mmh," Nia grunted, "the Praetorium."

"What?" Brandon cried in indignation, "why?"

"It's a long story but… It just felt like the whole world was against me and Dromarch," she held back a sob. "We were just thankful to see a new sunrise the next day, prayin' we'd see another. Then we met Jin. He… he took me in, gave me a home."

Brandon nodded wordlessly.

"In Jin, I saw a way out, y'know? I just couldn't see a future for myself so I threw in my lot with him…"

"Hmph, didn't think that you worried that much."

"Well, I wasn't worried as such."

"Mmhm. Well," Brandon paused, "I don't know what happened in your past to burden you, but know that if you ever need a shoulder to cry on, I'm here. But you know, I can't picture you doing anything less than fighting out of it tooth and claw."

"What the hell?" Nia said in indignation, "I'm not some violent goon!"

Brandon chuckled, "that's the Nia I know and lo-" he coughed, "we know and love."

"The Nia… you know?" Nia whispered.

"Well then, I'm assuming you're all rested up, let's catch up."

….

"Looks like we're here," Brandon said as he placed his hands on his hips. He looked around the chamber until his eyes came to a rest on the altar in front of them.

"That's the seal from the ship," Rex noted, "I guess I…"

He cut himself off as shadows materialized, surrounding the party. The shadowy clones drew their blades, identical in shape, different in color to Mythra's own blade.

"Shit," Brandon swore as he activated his gauntlets. The shadows charged, Brandon and the rest ran to meet them. At first Brandon was confused. Was this really the challenge that the legendary hero had set up? These things were so easy to destroy why was this the… oh. They duplicate.

"Ugh!" Nia cried in pain as a shade broke past her defense to land a slash across her body and sent her sprawling on the ground. It pressed its advantage and lifted its sword to deliver the finishing blow.

"Nia!" Brandon cried as he rushed to save her, blocking the shade's blow and forcing it back.

"Brandon…" Nia groaned weakly as she tried to stand up and rejoin the fight.

Brandon was still taking on several shadow clones at the same time. He put in a valiant effort, bobbing and weaving through a tidal wave of steel but his agility had its limits. One slash, two, started edging their way past his defense. He fought through the pain as best he could but a powerful strike from one shade brought him to his knees. A kick sent him sprawling across the ground, completely spent. He looked up weakly but defiantly, choosing to stare down death for his friends. The shade walked up and raised it's blade to deliver the killing blow.

"No…" Nia whispered, "no more. No more suffering, no more death because I couldn't accept who I am…"

She took a deep breath as she made her decision. "No more!" she _screamed_ as a white light enveloped her body.

"Wha- Nia?" Rex's arms dropped to his side in shock, the wicked scythes he was wielding hanging limply at his sides. A _pulse_ went out across the room, healing everyone's wounds and even restoring their lost energy. The pulse contained enough positive energy for the shadows to be flung back and even the most stubborn of the bunch took several steps back.

Some life came back to Brandon and he rolled over and got up to his hands and knees.

"Wha-?" He leaned back and lifted up an arm, the slashes all overhealing over in a matter of moments. He looked up as a blinding light filled his vision. "Nia? You're a-"

She kneeled down in front of him. "I am burdened no longer, not by my past, not by who I am. I am finally free."

"Blade," Brandon breathed, his arm still frozen in the air, Nia reaching down to clasp his gauntleted hand in hers.

"I am no longer afraid. This is who I am, Brandon. What's the point in living if I have to hide? Thank you for helping me see that this is where I belong. Here. With my family. With you, I," she gulped, "love you too Brandon."

Brandon's breath caught. Nia gave him a soft smile as she stood up, the healing wave still washing over her family, still creating a nasty barrier for the shadows. She jumped and flipped over Brandon, lifting a hand to summon her sword: the Catalyst Scimitar. She slashed it through the air, sending a water wave over the shadows, disintegrating several. She sprinted forward, leading the charge as the rest followed closely behind.

Nia flowed through the battle, moving almost like water and wreaking general havoc onto the shades. Her blade flashed, continuously sending out healing pulses and pressurized blades of water, sawing more than a few shades in half. But no matter how many were cut down, several more took their place.

Eventually, even the powerhouse that the flesh eater Nia was would reach her limit.

She paused and panted, trying to catch her breath, "there really isn't much ether here," she gasped. She lifted her blade to fight off the next wave of shades only for fatigue to overtake her and she fell to her knees. She could only watch helplessly as a shadow lifted its blade. She closed her eyes in preparation for the inevitable, only the fatal blow never came.

She peeked out from squinted eyes. "Brandon," she breathed, the inventor in question standing in front of her, blasting shades with electricity. He turned around and looked her in the eye.

"Nia I," he chuckled, "I should have done this long ago," he leaned down and hesitated, "don't slap me for this."

He pulled her into a deep kiss. Nia flinched in shock for a moment before melting into Brandon's arms with a sigh, closing her eyes and leaning in.

They heard Rex whoop from somewhere in the room, "one more thing to fight for!"

"Wait?" Zeke gasped in shock, "those two weren't already dating?"

And that ruined the moment. Nia pulled away with a slight giggle, Brandon chuckling along. The two pressed their foreheads together.

"Well… that was something else."

"Yeah."

"Hey if you two have finished your makeout session," Zeke grunted, "could we get some help here?"

Brandon grinned, "let's do this, together."

"Together," Nia nodded. She lifted her blade to Brandon.

"Uh," Brandon rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "I don't know if I can wield a blade weapon."

Nia snorted, "if you don't have the aptitude by now, there's something wrong with the universe."

Brandon paused, then nodded, putting his full trust in Nia, and grabbed her blade. He suddenly felt completely rejuvenated, and not just adrenaline. He felt as if every wound he had ever suffered had faded from even memory, leaving his body feeling reinvigorated. He smirked.

"Let's go! Everyone!" He yelled a battle cry as he charged forward to meet the shades, who's ranks seemed to be thinning.

"Who's there!" Rex called out suddenly among the battle.

"He must be losing it," Brandon muttered to himself as he and Nia passed the scimitar between them in perfect synchrony as if they had been fighting together their entire lives. The two swapped between sending out shockwaves of water and pulses of healing.

"I fight… I fight for my friends!" Rex and Brandon made eye contact. "I fight for my family! To keep them safe! To keep them happy!"

Something seemed to click. A light suddenly flashed down into the chamber, disintegrating the last of the shades. Rex's arms went slack as he looked up into the light.

Brandon groaned as he fell to his knees with Nia, the two relying on each other for support. Their eyes met for a second before the two burst into laughter.

"We did it!" Brandon breathed, his head resting atop of Nia's. The two rested in that position for a good little while, neither really wanting to leave the other. It was Brandon who finally looked up.

"Rex?" Brandon stood up ignoring the soft whines from Nia, no matter how hard it was. He rested a hand on his shoulder. "Rex?" he repeated.

"Uh- what?" Rex shook his head, coming out of his stupor.

"You blanked out. You've been staring up at the ceiling for a little while."

Rex shook his head again as he blinked rapidly. "I think I just met Addam."

"You what?"

"I met Addam. I mean, he's still dead but some part of him seems to be still alive in that vision."

Brandon was about to comment on the impossibility of such a statement when they heard the soft creaking of stone moving against stone. Brandon's eyes widened: the Third Sword. Rex's gaze was transfixed to the weapon as he moved toward it in a trance. He grabbed a hold of it and yanked it out of its pedestal. A goofy grin flashed over his face for a moment as he allowed himself to be a kid for what seemed like the first time in years, swinging the sword around striking a pose.

"Uh, Rex?" Brandon pointed to the legendary sword as black specks started flaking off.

"What?" Rex cried as the sword turned to dust and fell out of his hand in a pile. He fell to his knees in desperation, clinging to fistfuls of dust before lowering his head.

"What do we do now?" Brandon asked. The sword's destruction didn't make any sense to him but it was gone and there was no fixing that.

Rex's face was grim. "I don't know. But I've got an idea."

"Yeah?"

Mòrag nodded, "I've seen that look in your eye before. You see something we don't."

Rex nodded. "I saw a decaying titan: the Cliffs of Morytha. I'm certain that that's where those bastards are."

"But how-" Brandon paused when he felt someone elbow him.

"Let's save this for when we get back to the surface," Zeke said, "I think we could all use a breather."

Brandon stared back, feeling a protest rise up in his throat, only for that protest to wither and die at the haggard expressions on his friend's faces. He nodded. "Yeah. We deserve it."

….

Brandon and Nia were now seemingly attached at the hip. The two refused to let go of each other, as if the other would disappear into mist if physical contact was lost for even a second.

They collectively agreed that no progress would be made after the hours of time spent in the Spirit Crucible and each agreed to spend some downtime relaxing and sleeping before reconvening the next day.

Brandon and Nia retired early together to a room. They didn't do anything but cuddle up together as they drifted off to sleep. Brandon slept better that night than any other night before in utter happiness with the one he loved.

 **If you didn't see that coming then you haven't been paying attention. Though as Zeke would say if he hadn't had assume that the two were dating, "about time!"**

 **On a more serious note, I will need to get a job over the summer to help pay for college. The thing is I was thinking of setting up some kind of funding thing so that I could write full time over the summer rather than do some boring job. If I did gather enough support you would see much more frequent updates to my fics as well as more fics. I would also give donors something extra as well. Probably an original story as well as requests such as tutoring or tutorials and stuff. IDK, If you're interested shoot me a pm.**


	19. Chapter 18: Perfect Date

**Sorry it took me so long to get this update out. Meant to have it up two weeks ago but a bunch of college stuff came up as well as a case of writer's block. You also have no idea how much time I wasted losing at Starcraft ugh. Listening to Sawano's work also makes time fly by like crazy. They really picked the perfect composer for Xenoblade X. Thank you to those who left a nice review, it means the world to me that people read and enjoy my work. Almost 8k views!**

 **Also jeez YohanFushi what is that review lol, I'm not intending on abandoning any of my stories. Even if it does take a while. Though this is a bit of a shorter chapter.**

* * *

Brandon clutched at Nia tighter as light flooded into their room. The two had nestled together like spoons overnight as they slept in total relaxation.

"Turn the light off," he hissed.

The figure sighed as they moved over to the window and threw open the curtains. Even Nia hissed at that and threw the blanket over their heads.

"Come on guys!" Rex groaned, "we talked about this, we don't have all the time in the world. Nia! Work with me here! I thought you were an early riser!"

"Five more minutes," Brandon and Nia groaned in sync as Brandon stuck a hand out from under the blanket.

Rex rolled his eyes as he yanked the blanket off the new couple. "Get your lazy arses out of bed."

Brandon simply turned over and buried his face in his pillow. "Do you have a snooze button?"

"Look Brandon, I am doing the best to keep the panic out of my voice right now. It's been several _days_ now since we lost Pyra. Who knows what could have happened to her?" Rex grabbed the unresponsive inventor in desperation and shook, hard, "get up!"

"Alright, alright!" Brandon exclaimed as he brushed Rex's hands off his shoulders and jumped to his feet, Nia repeated the motion behind him, albeit slightly slower, "I'm up, I'm up!"

"Finally!" Rex exclaimed.

"What's the rush anyway?" Brandon yawned.

"What's the rush?" Rex cried in disbelief, "Pyra?"

Brandon sighed, "okay, we know that she's somewhere on the Cliffs of Morytha correct?"

Rex nodded.

"So, if you're in this much of a hurry, you must have figured out a way for us to get there."

"Uh," rex rubbed his arm sheepishly, "I was hoping you could help with that."

"There was a reason we," he gave a glance at Nia who had already laid back down, "decided to sleep in today. There's nothing we can do at the moment."

"Come on! You must have some sort of idea!" Rex prodded.

"Unless the countries have magically declared a ceasefire, we don't have any options. Even if we had the funds for a private chartered ship, civilians aren't allowed near the damn place."

"What about Mòrag?" Rex tried, "she's military."

"On a surface level. She may have a certain level of power but that's not enough to take a military ship away from the war effort," Brandon grimaced, "plus I don't really want to bother her anymore than we already have. She should be at the capital grieving. Only her sense of duty has kept her here with us."

"What about Zeke?"

"What about him?" Brandon crossed his arms, "he may be a prince, but that's all he is, a prince. He also has a certain degree of power but that makes it even worse. Imagine if an Urayan or Ardanian vessel spotted a ship bearing Tantalese colors? They're going to assume the worst and either open fire or take our ship."

Rex's face fell. "Are there really no options?"

"Not unless you can convince someone that our mission is important enough…" Brandon paused at the gleam in Rex's eyes. "Don't tell me…"

"Well…" Rex said, "technically this is a mission sanctioned by the Praetorium. We could get a ship bearing the Praetorium's name."

"Maybe, but how do you propose we make it there? Civilian ships have been all but stopped. The only reason why we were able to make it here was because Tantal is simply off most maps and Fonsett is a very backwater titan. If we wanted to take a civilian ship it would take months for a request to even go through. Also, how do you not know any of this? Hasn't Mòrag at least scolded you on not knowing basic current events?"

"Uh, you were the only person I was feeling brave enough to wake up."

Brandon palmed his face.

"How do you know all this stuff?" Rex asked.

"I may have turned in early last night, but I did my homework," Brandon sat down on the bed and put a hand up to his chin in thought, "check your compass, about where is the Praetorium?"

"Uh, one moment," Rex took out the device from a pocket and fiddled around with the overlapping rings that made up the bezel. "We're actually going to be within prime distance in a couple of days!" Rex exclaimed.

Brandon's jaw dropped. "Alright then. Let's just ride out on the good luck. Check if Zeke's ship is ready to go."

Rex nodded and stepped up to the door and paused. "What are you going to do?"

"Spend those couple of days with my girlfriend." As soon as the words left Brandon's mouth, an arm reached out from under the covers and yanked him back into the warmth of Nia's body. Rex laughed as he left the room, riding out on the muffled curses sent his way.

* * *

"We don't serve her kind here."

"What?" Brandon said in outrage, "you want to-" he paused as he felt a small hand envelop his. He grimaced, "fine then, we don't want your service anyway."

"Fucking cannibal."

Brandon tensed, his free hand clenching and unclenching in rage. Only Nia's soft touch kept the inventor from doing something rash.

Brandon stormed out of the restaurant, Nia trailing behind. He slammed the door shut as he angrily kicked a rock in frustration along the path as he trekked away from the restaurant with hands balled into fists at the verbal abuse hurled in their direction.

"It's fine," Nia said tugging at the inventor's sleeve. Brandon gave her a disbelieving stare.

"Really, I- I don't care," Nia said, voice wavering with uncertainty and hesitation. Brandon simply raised an eyebrow.

A determined flash went through Nia's eyes, "I don't, I don't care."

Brandon heaved a groan and sat down heavily on the side of the path. He buried his face in his hands.

"Sorry," Nia sighed as she took a seat next to the inventor and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Sorry about what?" Brandon lowered his hands, "you have nothing to apologize for. If anything I'm the one who should be apologizing."

"What for?" Nia asked, imitating Brandon.

"I just wanted our first real date to be perfect…" Brandon sighed in frustration, "but that's been ruined now. You'd think that there would be ONE restaurant that wouldn't care..."

"It's my fault." Nia moved her head away as she faced Brandon.

"Nia-"

"The stuff they say isn't unwarranted. The name flesh eater doesn't come from nothing after all."

"Yeah but that shouldn't matter…"

"But it does!" Nia sobbed, "I said that after my da died, it felt like the entire world was after me. That was because the entire world _was_ after me. The Praetorium's been after my kind for a long time. Persecuting us because we wanted to remember, because we couldn't stand forgetting over and over again."

"But Cole seemed fine."

"Cole…" Nia bit her bottom lip, "he's a special case. He's been around for five hundred years remember? He's clearly disguised himself as a human well enough and would have been easy enough for him. Me? It wasn't hard for word to reach the Praetorium that the hotshot Gormotti lord somehow cured his daughter, and somehow lost the extremely rare healing blade in the process. It didn't take them long to put two and two together."

"Religious fanatics," Brandon growled.

"Yeah well, religious fanatics that have influence over all of Alrest," Nia said with an eye roll, "that's why I hid myself… but with you," Nia wrapped her arms around the inventor as she pressed her face into his chest with a smile, "I feel safe."

Brandon grinned and returned the hug, resting a hand on top of her head. He smirked at how Nia's large ears twitched and drooped slightly. He shifted his hand and rubbed a thumb into her ear. She made a contented noise as she melted into his arms. She suddenly jerked back.

"Oi! Who gave you permission to do that!"

Brandon raised his hands in surrender, "I mean... you don't like it?"

"Well, I…" Nia flushed red and looked away, "I never said that."

Brandon chuckled as he rose to his feet. "Well then, what next?"

"Let's just head back," Nia said quietly, her knees drawn up to her chest.

"Back? We can just..."

"I mean, we stay here and ignore everyone they'll take it the wrong way. We strike back, we just validate what they say."

"But that's letting them win."

Nia rolled her eyes, "of course you'd say that. Look," she sighed, "I'm not as strong as you think. Come on, I just want to get out of here."

"Of course, milady," Brandon bowed as he took one of her arms in his, "Only… I've got a slightly better idea."

* * *

"Whoa," Nia breathed as she stared off into the expansive Cloud Sea.

"I know, right?" Brandon agreed as he sat down on the edge of the island, slipping out of his vest and chucking it to the side. He dangled his legs off of the cliff hundreds of meters above the clouds. Nia spent another moment wide eyed at the view before joining the inventor, her usual fear of heights, specifically heights above the cloud sea, absent for once as her eyes followed the clouds off into the horizon as they arched and curved up as if they were trying to stretch to Elysium.

"I used to come here a lot. Back when I first arrived in Alrest. I used to think about life all the time, wondering what I should do with mine now that the war was over and everything I knew was gone." He sighed, "honestly I was still searching until we embarked on this crazy quest for Elysium. But then… this is going to sound super cheesy, but then I met you."

Nia smacked at his arm, Brandon dodging out of the way half heartedly as he laughed.

"That was exceedingly cheesy, buckethead." She pressed herself into Brandon's side. "I kinda like it though."

"Ha ha! Point Brandon!"

"Don't press your luck," Nia clucked.

"Yes ma'am," he chuckled as he leaned into her. "I am serious though. I love you."

Nia stiffened and went bright red, "I- I…" she stammered, "I love you too."

Brandon laughed as he elbowed her, "you're even cuter when you're flustered."

Nia seemed to get even redder, if that was even possible. "Oi!" she exclaimed as she pushed Brandon to the side, "what did I say about not pushing your luck?!"

"Right, right!" Brandon laughed, "of course milady."

"Buckethead," Nia grumbled, leaning back onto the inventor. Brandon smiled and pulled Nia in tightly.

"We're so bad at this flirting thing aren't we."

Nia sighed, "well, if we just did this the entire day I'd be happy."

"And I was concerned about having a good first date," Brandon rolled his eyes, "could have just done this and saved us the trouble."

Nia laughed, "I'm a simple woman. All I really need at the moment is you."

"And you were berating me for cheese."

"Of course I was. It's only okay if I do it."

"Double standards!" Brandon exclaimed, laughing all the while.

The banter between the two faded softly into the white noise of the Cloud Sea. Nia sighed forlornly. "I just wish…"

"Hm?"

"I just wish that things could always be this way."

"Mmhm," Brandon hummed in agreement.

"It's just… all this fighting, the constant danger and the threat of the end of the world. I want to live in peace. Even though I'm a blade, I'm supposed to be a healer." Nia lifted a hand up, looking over it with an intense glare. "Someone who protects through healing, not violence."

"Yeah, I get it."

Nia nodded but didn't really seem to hear him, stuck in her own land of thought. She drew him in tight, burying her face in his shoulder. "I'm just so scared right now. I just got you, I don't want to lose you like I've lost everything."

Brandon chuckled, "oh don't worry about me. I'll be here to annoy you till the end of time." Brandon's expression took on a more sombre tone as he returned the embrace. "That's a promise."

His serious face softened as he felt his shoulder dampen, Nia sobbing silently into his shoulder. He reached up and started stroking her hair, working carefully past her ears, developing into a position very similar to earlier. The two lapsed into a comfortable silence. Nia eventually lifted her face off, choosing instead to rest her head sideways. The two sat together, safe and comforted in each other's company.

Brandon moved hesitantly. Judging by Nia's soft, steady breathing, she had fallen asleep. He was severely tempted to leave her there with a blanket and a smiley face, but he refrained. He was content to simply sit in her presence and watch the sun make its way lazily across the sky.

He would have liked for that moment to last forever but time still moved forcefully forward, changing time from day to night, or rather to early evening.

He reluctantly nudged Nia awake. "Hey, it's getting late, we probably should head back now."

Nia whined, wrapping her arms around Brandon's, "do we have to?"

"Well… we don't want to catch a cold out here."

"Ugh, fine," she grumbled as she rubbed her eyes, "not like I couldn't instantly heal it anyway."

Brandon laughed, "Come on, milady, I'll escort you back. You'll be able to sleep next to me all you want there."

Nia made a noncommittal noise as she allowed Brandon to guide her back to the house.

* * *

Rex looked up from his conversation with Mòrag as he noticed the pair walk back into the house. "Had a good day?" He asked wearing a smirk.

Brandon nodded in greeting at the Ardanian Inquisitor. "Yes, as a matter of fact. We had a great day."

Rex's smile faded into something more relaxed. "Good good. I am really happy for the both of you."

"Thanks," Brandon smiled, ruffling the young salvager's hair as he walked by.

He guided Nia forward and opened the door for her. He paused just before entering himself, "any news yet?" He asked, more addressing Mòrag.

She nodded, "the message has been sent. Now we just have to wait."

Brandon nodded, paused as if he was about to say something, then shook his head as he entered the room to join his girlfriend.

* * *

 **No action this time, just Brandon and Nia. A little bit of worldbuilding with the effect of the war, a little bit of relationship building as well.**

 **Going back and reading the story again… sigh, there's so much I need to fix and redo. I was initially concerned with sticking to canon so I didn't really change much in the beginning. I didn't really expand upon Brandon and he remained pretty static through the thing. I also did little justice to Nia so I really need to fix that, can't let best girl be a shell of herself. Also, I could probably do away with characters like Tora. Only reason why he's even in the story was because of canon. Stuff to work on for the rewrite. Now that summer break has fully kicked off, I'll be working on this with the free time I have.**

 **As of now the plan is to finish this fic first. I will be working on this exclusively until it's done. After the plan is to start the rewrite and the sequel at the same time. That should be releasing together with the RWBY thing as I pray that I don't get more trolls in my reviews. I'll also put up a vote after this fic is done to see what I should do next.**

 **The ideas I have atm are:**

 **Inventing the New Hero: A Brandon insert (Gonna coin that term) into the Rising of the Shield Hero universe.**

 **A Bug In the Code: SparkleHands was just like any other Minecrafter, except that things that no one has ever seen before just keep popping up around him.**

 **IDK what to title this yet: Starcraft fic. Personally leaning towards this one.**

 **Side note, Starcraft streams are on. P a treon will be up in a bit but all donar goals will be towards stream stuff as well as perks. Of course if you request something else I will try to satisfy. Gotta do that shameless plug: twitch . tv / sparklehandss. Check out my streams if ur interested. I stream (almost) daily from about 8-12 EST. Mostly Starcraft 2 but I dabble in tetris and other games.**


	20. Chapter 19: Slowly Rebuilding

**Tfw when I get placed into writing 100.**

 **Lol jk.**

 **Tbh though I put myself in the class. I'm great with math and science, not so much the writing. You should see leaps and bounds of improvement over the next year. I got placed to the regular freshman writing requirement but I decided not to take it. I got placed super high in everything else so you can tell that I have not prioritized my writing skill.**

 **Sorry about the late update as well. I got overwhelmed with the combo of College orientation as well as several Starcraft tournaments. Serral won homestory cup as expected though TY put up a hell of a fight.**

 **Now, on with the show!**

 **...**

"Damn it! How are you already better than me?" Brandon exclaimed in frustration as his character was knocked off the stage, giving Nia the three stock victory. He rested his hand on Nia's head to show that there were no hard feelings. It still stung though.

Nia shrugged, infuriating the inventor just a little bit more. "I dunno, maybe I'm just naturally talented."

Brandon snorted, "if that were the case you'd have been kicking my ass like fifty games ago."

"Well then, I guess I just learn fast."

"Yeah," Brandon said with an eye roll, "almost like a… computer…" Realization shot through Brandon.

"Oh no," Nia sighed, "let me guess, I'm a computer."

"... Yeah."

"Oh no," Nia repeated sarcastically with an eye roll, "whatever will I do. I suppose I'll just have to continue living like every other blade." She sighed dramatically.

"You're… okay with this?"

"I mean, I'm not going to change how I'm living right now. So what if I'm 'artificial,'" she said making air quotes, "I'm still alive, and I'm with you, that's enough for me."

"But-"

"So what?" Nia interrupted, "I don't really care. It's not like this would have changed anything for me." She gave him a hopeful look, "or us?"

Brandon chuckled, "you seem to be taking this all in stride."

Nia laughed, "after all that we've been through," she shrugged, "I'm willing to believe and accept almost anything now."

Brandon closed his eyes as he leaned back and let out a soft breath of air through his nose. His jaw shifted within his closed mouth as if formulating his next words. "Almost?" he asked, reopening his eyes.

Nia smirked, "the day you can come back in this video game is the day fish fly."

"Hm… wait, what did you just...!"

"I kid, I kid!" Nia exclaimed. Brandon rolled his eyes. "Snrk, mostly."

"Wh-"

Nia started laughing. "Sorry! You made it too tempting."

"You just had to go for the low hanging fruit huh?"

"Couldn't help myself," Nia shrugged, "I know how tilted you get when you lose."

"Hey, at least I don't get salty and balance whine."

"Yeah, but you still get upset over losing at a video game."

"Cut me some slack," Brandon groaned into his hand, "I used to play ultra competitively."

"You ever play in a tournament?" Nia crossed her arms with skepticism.

"Well… a couple…?" Brandon's hand moved from his face to the back of his neck.

"Have you ever won anything?" Nia narrowed her eyes.

"Uh… a headset?"

"Not good enough," Nia sighed, "you never relied on this for money so it shouldn't, doesn't matter."

Brandon threw himself backward and flopped into a lying position on the bed as he shut off the hologram that was displaying the game. "Yeah," he sighed, "got it."

"Also, look at it this way, I am a computer."

Brandon chuckled, "I guess so."

"Why am I a computer anyway?" Nia asked, "what were core crystals before Alrest?"

"Well, core crystals were originally developed for people, specifically the rich, to try to live forever." Brandon explained as he st back up, "human memory is limited to around three hundred years, even if you could perfect repairing the body. Core crystals were supposed to be the solution, our key to immortality! Or at least that's what the government claimed in order for them to collect tens of trillions in investment."

"Then what?"

"Then the government claimed to be performing 'ethical' experiments on animals. Turns out they were using prisoners of war. Let's just say that the experiments didn't end prettily," he shivered, "that was a particularly bad raid."

He gripped Nia's hand tightly. "That's why I still have trouble believing this. You're here but by all right, you shouldn't be. Neither should any other blade or... Zeke. I don't know what happened within the last…" he paused and let out a long breath, a soft, breathy chuckle near the end, "four thousand years. I'm glad it did."

"Four thous- heh, you're older than I am."

"What? You look barely a day over eighteen."

"You know how blade age works right?"

Brandon shook his head in response. "Well, physical age added to however long we were actually alive during that cycle. I'd technically be twenty-six."

"And how would that be divided up?"

"Sixteen physical, ten on Alrest."

"So my girlfriend is barely legal age… great," Brandon deadpanned.

"Legal age?"

"Oh wait, sorry uh, old-world laws die hard I guess."

"Hm… how old are you anyway?"

"I'm uh nineteen. Physically at least. We have a weird relationship," he smirked, "at least you sound twenty six."

"Oi! What's that supposed to mean?"

"Sorry!" Brandon laughed, "low hanging fruit. Probably just your Welsh accent."

"Welsh?"

"Yeah, the area where your accent is from. I don't know why Gormotti have a literal Welsh accent but I could say the same about Mor Ardain with Scottish and Uraya with Australian."

"Weird."

"I know right?" Brandon sighed, "it's probably just a coincidence. It just feels like it should have been impossible for English to become the main language over Humanity's second chance _and_ the accents to remain the same. I guess it's not impossible but it just seems so unlikely."

"As unlikely as humanity coming around a second time? Or existing in the first place?"

"Well," he said sheepishly, "you got me there."

Nia laughed, "point Nia."

Brandon chuckled along as he pulled Nia into a hug, who immediately stopped laughing and went red in the face. "What did I do to deserve you?"

"Apparently not enough," Nia huffed.

"Fair," Brandon laughed, "I suppose I'll have to try to fully earn it then."

"You'd better," Nia teased, "I can't have someone unworthy as my boyfriend."

"Unworthy!" Brandon cried in mock indignation, "after all we've been through together." He closed his eyes and slumped, acting as if his entire self esteem was destroyed.

"Oh get over yourself. We've saved each other's arses enough times for that to not matter."

"Yeah?" Brandon asked, instantly recovering, "and how many points is it in my favor?"

"You're favor? Last I checked I was in the lead."

"Eh," Brandon raised a finger but quickly dropped it, "yeeaah… you're probably right to be honest."

"Heh, that's another point."

"Since when were you keeping track?"

"Since you decided to apparently."

Brandon, again, had no response.

"Hmph," Nia crossed her arms, "I guess I win."

"Yeah, I guess you have."

Brandon sighed, letting Nia go and collapsing back onto the bed, "we're going to have to get out of here eventually, we've already played the morning away."

"Ugh, you're right. I _really_ don't want to though."

"I get you." He grunted as he brought himself back to his feet. "I'll go and talk to Rex, you just sit here and come up with what you want to do for the rest of the day."

"What? No!" Nia shook her head, "we'll do this together."

Brandon laughed, "what? It's not like I'm saying I'm going on a quest alone."

"Hmph, I said together didn't I? Or were your ears clogged up?"

Brandon laughed, "you have no idea how much I love you right now."

"Of course I do," Nia said as she stood up and headed for the bathroom.

"And how is that?" Nia paused at the door frame.

She glanced back and shot him a grin, "because I love you just as much."

It was brandon's turn to flush bright red. He chuckled to himself as Nia slipped into the hallway. "You never cease to surprise me."

* * *

"Remind me again why I have to check in with my _kid_ brother again?" Brandon crossed his arms as he faced the brother in question.

"Because otherwise, Mòrag would have your hide," Rex responded, jabbing his thumb at the window in the general direction of the Ardanian Special Inquisitor.

Brandon placed a hand on his forehead. "Remind me why you're leader again?"

Rex stared at him for a moment then doubled over with laughter. "Even after almost four years I still can't tell when you're joking around."

"It's a talent," Brandon shrugged.

Nia rolled her eyes, "it's not like your wit can keep up with mine."

"Ha, true enough," Brandon lifted a hand to his mouth. "I really can't tame the Welsh sass," he stage whispered.

"Oi-!"

"Well… you know how feisty Gormotti are."

"Hey! Don't act like I'm not here!"

"Whaat?" Brandon drawled, "Me? I would never even dream of it milady."

"You'd better not," Nia pouted.

"Rex here on the other hand…"

"Hey!" Rex complained, "don't throw me to the Territorial Rotbart!"

Brandon shuddered, "I thought we agreed to never bring that thing up again." He recalled the last encounter with one of those beasts. The sheer strength of the creature had been easily enough to send the two flying and off into unconsciousness. They had almost died that day. That was when he decided to start developing his armor, to be able to maybe stand on even footing with more powerful creatures. Of course, that didn't help against the immense power and skill of the Tornan fighters.

"We did, but that was before you were about to throw me into Nia's claws."

"Oi!" She hissed, "I'm not a violent psychopath."

A flash of Déjà vu went through Brandon. "No," he agreed, "but you sure are fiery."

"It's part of my charm."

"It sure is."

Rex gagged. "If you two are done being lovey-dovey in front of me can we continue?"

"Yeah yeah," Brandon snorted, "go on."

"Well, we got a message: we've got a ship."

"Alright," Brandon said, "when does it get here."

"It'll be here in a couple of days so... I kind of want to train during that time…"

"Uh, I mean sure." Brandon cocked his head to the side, unsure of why exactly Rex was asking. Training for like two days wouldn't fill the power gap, but he'd do it if Rex asked.

"Yes!" Rex pumped a fist in the air.

"What?" He raised an eyebrow, a hint of offense sneaking into his voice. "Did you really think I would say no?" He put a finger up when Rex opened his mouth. "Don't answer that, rhetorical question. Today's called for though."

"You're going to spend _another_ day with your girlfriend?"

"Said girlfriend is standing right here," Nia cleared her throat. "Besides, that barely brings it up to three now."

"And," Brandon cut in, "we're going to spend it relatively productively."

Rex's expression turned deadpan. "Oh really? How?"

"Well… we were going to go and find some parts for me to use to upgrade my gear."

Rex's eyelids narrowed further. "You totally just pulled that out of your arse, didn't you?"

"I uh… yeah," he admitted with a slight flick of his head, almost as if challenging the salvager to do something about it.

"Ugh fine," Rex relented, "go do whatever you think is the best use of your time."

"That I can do, let's go."

Nia nodded, a gesture that Brandon returned as he headed out the door. Nia laughed softly at Rex tapping his head down onto the kitchen table he was sitting at. Looks like even the overly optimistic Rex was annoyed occasionally. Brandon increased his pace. Nia followed suit to keep up.

"Why are you moving so fast?"

"The less time we spend in public the better."

"Any particular reason?" Nia gave Brandon a light elbow.

Brandon grimaced, "please don't make light of this. We both full well know why."

"Sorry." Nia placed her right hand on her left arm.

"You're fine." Brandon gave her a slightly bemused expression. "Now, let's just get this over with. I want to get back to do some work in my lab."

"What? You mean Aunt Corinne's basement?" Nia joked.

"More like her attic."

"Eh," she shrugged, "close enough."

"Yup," Brandon laughed, "still just as embarrassing."

"Hmph, suck the fun out of it by admitting it."

"I live to please milady."

"Only you."

Brandon stopped at a store and headed in. He looked around before he picked up an item, holding it up to inspect from all sides. "Sounds about right." Nia pulled up to the side of Brandon, looking curiously up at the device in his hands. A device that was immediately snatched out of his hands as the vendor got a good view of the flesh eater.

"Hey what the hell?"

"You're with the cannibal?" The vendor spat, "no service."

"Hey look here buddy," Brandon's face hardened into stone, "I don't see what the company I keep has anything to do with this."

"Hey _buddy,_ I don't know what kinda spell you're under but you know you're next?"

"Just sell me the damn gadget. Or you'll find it hard to get more stock."

"And why's that?" the vendor leered.

"Because I made the thing."

"Oh yeah? And I'm the Emperor of Mor Ardain."

Brandon's eyes flashed. He grabbed the vendor's collar and lifted him off the ground. "Listen here pal. You've worn my patience thin. I recommend that you sell me your damn stock or I guess I'll have to sick my flesh eater on you. We wouldn't want that now would we?"

"Brandon!" Nia hissed, placing a hand on his shoulder, "let's just go."

Brandon simply shrugged her hand off and glared at the vendor.

"W-what?" The vendor stuttered, "you're a driver! You can't hurt me! The law forbids it!"

"You know it's interesting," Brandon growled, "I'm not a legal driver. Unregistered, but I trust you won't say anything about that?"

"N-no."

"Good," Brandon shoved the man aside. "How much?"

"A thousand per," the vendor wheezed.

"What!" Nia exclaimed, "that's a rip off!"

Brandon threw a sack at the man. "There, that should be enough." He grabbed several items off the shelves and tossed them into his backpack as the vendor counted through the coins.

"Why did you do that?" Nia exclaimed as they left the store, "we could have left and you could have just gone to a store without me."

Brandon gave her a look before relenting with a sigh. He gave her a small smile, "we're in this together."

"Stubborn idiot."

"You say one thing," Brandon chuckled, "but your smile says something else."

"Wha- damn it." The smile on Nia's face remained present.

"Heh," Brandon wrapped an arm around Nia and drew her in closely, planting a kiss on top of her head.

"Ugh. Let's just head over to your lab already."

Brandon bowed and offered an arm, "of course milady. Right this way."

Nia took it with a grin. "Well then, I could get used to this."

"What? You want me to act as your butler now?"

"Nah," she dismissed the idea with a flick of her hand, "I don't have to pay you as a boyfriend. You have to spend money to keep me at your side."

"Oh so is that how it is now…"

* * *

Brandon finally stood up and stretched after having had sat at a computer for several hours straight, his only company being Nia sitting and watching at the side, occasionally pointing at something of interest and asking what it did. He heard the trapdoor click open and glanced up in the direction of the sudden sound, ringing out from the silence it broke.

"Dinner." Nia announced as she came through the door.

"Well what is it?"

Nia gave a coy smile. "You'll have to find out."

"Really?" Brandon put a finger on his nose, "Corinne's food is kind of predictable though."

Nia's grin turned more smug, "It's not Corinne's."

"What?"

"It's mine."

"You can cook?"

Nia gave him an annoyed look. " _Yes_ , I can cook. It's not rocket science like whatever the hell you're working on."

"True enough," Brandon shrugged as he dug in.

"Mmh!" His eyes lit up and started shoveling as much food into his mouth as he could.

Nia doubled over laughing. "Guess it's good then," she just managed to eek out in between fits of giggling.

"Very funny," he mumbled out with a mouthful of food, "I'm just starving okay?"

"Of course you are, you've been sitting in front of that infernal device for half the day!"

"Ugh, you're sounding like a parent right now."

"Well someone has to be the adult here."

"Whatever, we've still got work to do."

"Well what do you even have to do?"

"Gotta patch up my armor," he pulled out a circular device and tossed it to Nia. Her eyes widened as she fumbled to try to catch the device. It slipped through her fingers and Nia let out a small whimper. She made one more attempt to catch the device and just managed to grab it with a sigh of relief which immediately turned into surprise as a blue light flashed.

"What's this?" She asked as she held it up, the hologram showing up as she placed her palm up.

"That's the diagram for the circuit I want you to put together." Brandon pointed towards a shelf, "the materials should be over there." He turned his chair back toward his desk and pulled up another hologram as well as several pieces of the now disassembled device that he had purchased earlier.

"Gah!" Nia exclaimed after several minutes of struggling, "you know I'm not any good at this." She kept on fiddling with several wires. "Ow!" she yelped in pain as she stabbed her finger with a bit of wire. She shook her hand, accidentally letting go of the circuit and it clattered to the floor and resetting part of her progress. "Damn! Ohh… fishsticks…"

Brandon chuckled, finishing up what he was working on. "Here," he said as he stood up, flexing a fist that he had put his new gauntlet on, "just take that with you, I'm going to fight Rex." He clenched his other fist and a second gauntlet sprang up over it.

"Why's your left one smaller than your right?"

Brandon smirked as he made his way to the exit. "You're just going to have to wait to find out."

"Oh come on!"

"What comes around goes around!"

"Why you…"

* * *

"Ready?" Brandon called, lifting his fists.

Rex grinned, "you ready Roc?"

"Borne ready," he cawed.

"Let's go!" Rex charged.

Brandon moved to meet him.

 **...**

 **Gotta be honest, that first scene was me complaining about all the salt on ladder. It seems like so many people get hard stuck in the middle so they start to feel like losing isn't their fault so they start swearing at anyone who beats them. "Toss Imba, Terran Imba." no you're just bad at the game. You want to win you practice off of ladder and on specific skills.**

 **I also like that transition, leaving it off with Brandon and Nia annoying each other. Giving just a little taste at a larger conversation.**

 **I decided to change up canon a little bit with core crystals being experimented in an attempt to gain immortality before the whole end of the world thing.**

 **I think I said that Brandon was 17 somewhere so I should probably go back and change that. Damn, I really need to go back and make Brandon a more dynamic character. I want more of a change to the more mellowed out and deeply in love Brandon. The whole relationship thing feels like it happened quickly. Plus got to patch some plot holes.**

 **Looks like we also got a vote for Shield Hero. But just using the review section would be difficult so I've made a poll! www . strawpoll . me / 18279470**

 **Just don't forget to delete the spaces when copy and pasting. I'll set up another poll depending on what gets picked.**

 **If it's RWBY it would be whether you want to even see a pairing. I said Brandon X Blake, not because I like Blake, still think she's one of the worst, as a person at least, great for character and conflict. It's because it's the only pairing that makes sense really. Nora is easily out because Ren. Pyrrha is also easily out because Jaune and well… she's dead. Ruby is out because 1. again Jaune 2. kinda young for a 19-year-old and 3. too naive and innocent. Yang? Lmao no. I get the feeling that Brandon with a thrill-seeking flirt wouldn't work out too well. Even after season 3 when she matures. Weiss? That's an eh maybe? She is a dynamic character and changes a lot through the show but Blake's really the only one I can really think I can make work, though if someone else gets voted I guess I could try to make it work.**

 **If Shield Hero gets picked it's whether you guys want to see Brandon follow Naofumi or if he should go off and do his own thing. Also if he does follow Naofumi he's obviously also going to get a "slave" so should it be an OC or Nia?**


	21. Chapter 20: Training Session

**Sorry for the late update, again.**

 **Huh, I wanted a couple more votes on the poll. Also, that's a pretty good idea making a prequel as well. I guess if the one that gets voted for is the sequel I'll do a prequel injunction. I'll also have to really focus on the rewrite so I can put in the changes I want in the prequel and sequel. www . strawpoll . me / 18279470 to vote. I'll also take down the RWBY one unless it gets voted for but I'm going to restart it even if it does get voted for.**

 **Thank you for the reviews. I am planning on going back with a rewrite so I'll try to add a line between the transitional things. Actual constructive criticism, thank you Ccmonty. Also, yup, that was the point of this story, to give Nia her happy ending without ruining Pyra's. But now that I've pounded out a few chapters I do want to expand on this universe. Core crystals were used in an attempt by desperate people after the whole Klaus thing to gain immortality which is what changed them into those monsters. Kind of an unrefined blade eater process. I changed it up a little to before the Klaus event.**

 **And dang Wandering Writer, thank you for that long review. I'm planning on going back to try to address these issues in a rewrite after I'm done with the story. The previous reviewer made the same comment on the ancient ship, don't worry about pacing stuff there because I've finally figured out what a break line is. I'll try to work on the slideshow syndrome thing. There will be some plot holes and inconsistencies as I change things around depending on what I think is suited for the story which means you're going to have to bear with that for a little bit. Clearly, I am more suited for math and science but I am glad to see that someone thinks that my writing has improved, so thank you again!**

 **Sorry for the long author's note, just a lot to say.**

 **Now, on with the show!**

….

"Ready?" Brandon called, lifting his fists.

Rex grinned, "you ready Roc?"

"Borne ready," he cawed, summoning the dual scythes and ran a feathered finger over the blade, dulling the glowing edge, then tossed them to Rex.

Rex nodded as he caught the weapons. "Let's go!" Rex charged.

Brandon moved to meet him, flicking several fingers to activate the electric charge. He started at a lazy walk, slowly speeding up and immediately feigned to the right as Rex's scythe whipped past him. He winced as the other scythe scraped past him, digging slightly into his side.

 _Crap, he saw past my move. Heh, he sure has grown. Time to show off some of my tricks._

Brandon flicked his fingers in a different combination.

"What the hell is that?"

"It's a shield," Brandon grinned, flicking his arm up, blocking Rex's next strike.

"Why is it glowing green!" Rex exclaimed as he bent over backwards as the shield passed over his face, missing it by less than a centimeter.

"What-?"

A new shield formed.

"Hey!"

"Like it? Uses the same power source as my gauntlets so the energy shields'll never run out."

Rex set his jaw. "Looks like I can't hold back then."

Brandon's response was simply to chuck another shield at the young driver.

"Roc!"

"Right," the bird like blade responded with a gust of wind, blowing the shield off course and it dissipated without a constant power source. Brandon grinned as he readied another shield, this time activating the electricity surrounding his gauntlets. He chucked it.

Rex raised an eyebrow and sidestepped it easily. Brandon continued creating shields, throwing them in different patterns. Rex started narrowing his eyes in concentration as the intensity increased, several shields acting almost like boomerangs, some lasting longer than others and every time Rex tried to get in close but Brandon's defense was impenetrable and he was unable to focus on one thing for even a second or a shield would strike him. Roc tried sending out bursts of wind and sharpened feathers but was having trouble dodging himself.

A shield finally struck Rex on the head. He cried out and rubbed his head. His expression turned angry. Brandon let up on the shield barrage and simply readied his defense.

Rex flung a scythe out, sending it whirling. Roc's eyes seemed to widen but reacted quickly and sent a helping gust of wind, giving the scythe a speed boost.

Brandon reeled back in shock but just managed to deflect the blade weapon. Rex caught the weapon as it ricocheted back.

"Nice," Brandon complimented, "but you're done."

"Wha-?" Brandon punched his fists together, unleashing an electric blast. The electricity ran through the air, supported by the dispersed energy particles from the shields. The particles glowed green as the energy ran through Rex and shocking him to the ground.

"Say uncle." Brandon teased.

"Urg!" Rex groaned. He struggled to his feet.

"What? How?"

"I admit," Rex grunted, "this doesn't tickle. But this is _nothing_ compared to what Pyra's going through right now!"

Brandon cut off the energy flow, afraid of doing permanent damage. Rex took that opportunity and lunged in.

"I… win…" Rex panted, his scythes having just stopped short of connecting with Brandon's stomach. His legs gave out and he fell to the ground.

Brandon stepped back. He raised a hand. Rex took it.

"We'll get her back. I promise."

A tear slid down Rex's face. "Thank you," he whispered, then turned around and trudged back to the house.

Brandon sat down heavily in exhaustion.

"Holy crap!" Nia exclaimed as she ran up to Rex. "Wait! You need heali-"

"I'm fine," Rex smiled, "go be with your boyfriend."

Nia stopped then nodded. "We'll get you yours back."

Rex's cool attitude suddenly collapsed as he went beet red. "Not my girlfriend," he muttered as he meandered off.

Nia sniggered as she ran up to Brandon. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He slowly got to his feet, then almost immediately fell to his knees. Nia rolled her eyes as she knelt down and wrapped one of Brandon's arms around her shoulders. "Come on tough guy. Let's get you to bed."

"Thanks, Nia."

"Buckethead," Nia muttered.

"Hey! It was a good fight." Brandon whined.

"Yeah, if you didn't count the…"

* * *

"I'm so beat," Brandon grunted as he jumped onto the bed.

"Well, you've got another long day tomorrow."

"We've," he corrected as Nia took her spot beside him, in a more dainty fashion.

"Roping me into training as well?"

"I mean... yeah."

"But you said it yourself," she pointed out, "training for just a few days won't actually change anything about the upcoming fight."

"That is true," Brandon acknowledged, "but at the same time, the training is to help us learn each other's strengths as well as limits. Plus we could come up with a special move during that time." He finished with a shrug. "It's better than doing nothing and you never know, we could learn something from this."

"Sure."

"Eh, if you really feel that way, think of it as a time to develop a better synergy with Mòrag and Zeke."

"Huh? Feel what way?" She slapped the back of Brandon's head, "I'm not being sarcastic all the time Buckethead."

"You weren't being sarcastic?" he chuckled nervously as a small bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face, "I guess I don't know you as well as I thought I did."

She bonked the top of his head this time. "Pretty sure you said that on purpose."

"Ah, perhaps you know me better than I know myself then."

Nia nodded, "better."

"I aim to please," Brandon grinned as he said his next words, saying the all too familiar line, "milady."

"Idiot," she breathed as she snuggled up close.

"Love you too." He wrapped an arm around her.

"Wish it could always be like this," Nia mumbled after a few moments of silence.

"Well, that's our new goal then."

"Hm?"

"You've said that enough," Brandon said, "enough to make me want to grant you your wish. So… let's make that a reality. We beat Torna, then we go home."

"Home?"

"Wherever you are."

"Ugh you sap."

"Never denied it. But I am telling the truth. I'll go wherever you wish milady."

"Mmh, thanks. I really do appreciate it."

"Well then," he grinned, "I'll never let you be alone again."

Her only response was her soft snoring.

* * *

Brandon awoke to Nia's face buried in his chest. He could feel the slight vibrations of her light snoring. A sigh slipped from his lips. Normally he wouldn't be opposed to this but they had work to do. Deciding that a couple more minutes couldn't hurt, he slipped an arm around her, simply enjoying her warmth. After a few minutes, he felt her stir against him.

"Finally awake milady?" Brandon chuckled.

"Hm?" Nia's face slowly went red as she slowly awoke. She tilted her head up, her nose almost touching Brandon's, but didn't react, choosing instead to wiggle herself closer.

"What happened to being an early riser?" He teased.

"You apparently."

"There's the snark."

"You know it."

"As much as I wish we could stay like this we do have some stuff to do."

"I know," She huffed, "but let me have this."

"Alright."

After a minute a fist rapped harshly on the door, interrupting the two.

"Damn it," Nia mumbled.

"We'll be right there!" Brandon shouted.

"You'd better," Rex responded from the other side of the door, "yesterday was just a warmup."

"Ugh." Brandon groaned, "just for that, I'm staying in bed longer."

"Oh come on!"

"You're the damn Aegis driver. Of freaking course you're going to be stronger than me at this point."

"Gah fine!" He heard Rex stomp off.

"Ah, there we go, some alone time."

"Think we should wake up earlier?" Nia asked, "seems like we could do this for longer if we do."

Brandon shrugged, "We could always sleep later, although training is probably going to kick our asses today and however many more days we have till the ship arrives." His mind wandered back to his old military days. The rebels may have not been as disciplined as the empire but they still pushed you to the limit.

"Mòrag is going to put us through hell isn't she."

Brandon shuddered, "as a military leader in the Ardanian empire… yeah, probably."

Nia finally unlatched herself from Brandon's body. "Well, the day's not going to wait for us." She rolled off the bed and stood up in a stretch. She lifted a hand as her body enveloped in light, changing her out of her signature jumpsuit and into her blade form.

"Easy for you to say," Brandon grunted, "miss basically magic."

"Ha!" Nia laughed, "ironic, isn't it. Don't complain, it's your world's tech."

Brandon slowly rose out of bed, "true enough I suppose." He gathered a couple of things and slowly made his way to the door. "I don't think you, or any blades were ever intended though."

Nia made a face, "Same result though, intended or not. Just go take your shower."

"As you command milady." He stopped just short of exiting the room, "do you want me to stop using that? You tense up slightly every time I say it."

"What? No no…" Nia sighed, "I like the nickname… just reminds me of Dromarch." She explained, a wistful look in her eye.

"Oh shit, sorry, I…"

"It's fine. Really." Nia assured, "the only thing he ever really wanted was for me to be happy. The only way I can move on is to fulfill that wish."

"But-"

"But what? I still feel sorrow over it but moping about isn't going to change anything," a flash of anger flickered over her expression, "Doesn't mean I'm not going to do anything. I'm going to avenge him."

"Well then, I'll help." Brandon pounded a fist into the towel and clothes in his other hand, "I've got my own bone to pick with Torna."

"Thanks… go take your shower already."

"Of course," he gave a somber, knowing smile, "milady."

* * *

"Hope that shower was as refreshing as your face is signifying," Rex said, "because you're about to sweat it off."

"Yeah…" Brandon sucked in air through his teeth, "kinda forgot that I'm going to be sweating hard."

"Ready yourselves," Mòrag commanded, unsympathetic to Brandon's whining.

Brandon gave a sigh and clenched his fists by his sides, activating his signature gauntlets.

"We've got this," Nia said as she raised her arms, activating the ether link. Her scimitar appeared in Brandon's hands and he got into position. He moved in close to Nia. He lifted a hand. Nia took it with a squeeze.

"Let's do this." Brandon and Nia moved forward slowly in perfect sync. Rex moved to match, his sync with Roc not as obviously fine-tuned, the connection simply not there. Brandon noticed. While not as apparent the other day, it was crystal clear now with Nia at his side. He raised his left arm, having moved the shield generator from his right to his left arm, and activated the energy shield, glowing to life. He increased his pace, Nia instantly matching. Rex narrowed his eyes in concentration, trying to predict Brandon's first move. Brandon easily saw through it. He nudged Nia who also took notice. Something that Brandon picked up was that Rex was an instinctual fighter, someone who relied on his instincts in combat and adapted on the fly. He was trying to figure out Brandon's tactics, a strategy that would end disastrously for the young Aegis driver. After all, he didn't have the years of experience that Brandon had both in real combat and video games.

Brandon swung the moment he moved into range. Rex blocked easily, the two struggling against the other's blade, probing at each other for weaknesses and getting a feel for their strengths. Brandon was obviously the junior in blade combat, Rex having grown much stronger and skilled in battle. However, in terms of brute strength, Brandon still had the slight advantage, as he was in his prime, leading the two to be locked in an uneven stalemate.

They broke off and started circling, each respective blade at their sides.

Brandon kept his guard up. No doubt Rex was overthinking the battle. He was probably expecting Brandon to try something completely new, judging by how tense Rex seemed to be. Well… right and wrong. He had a new trick, but it was based on what he had built up before. He started throwing shields.

Rex glared as he caught the first shield and used to knock the other shields into the ground.

Brandon raised an eyebrow.

Rex shrugged in response. "Figured that since Earth-type blades cancel out electric blades it would be the same with actual physics."

"Nice reasoning. I can see that your wit has only increased."

Rex grinned but it was short-lived.

"However," he raised a finger, "the shields aren't disappearing this time."

"Wha-" He winced. Nothing happened.

"You jerk."

"Yeah, that was a distraction." The blade vanished from his hand and something glowed blue behind Rex.

"Damn!" He tried to turn around, but was too slow. The hilt of the scimitar slammed into his head.

Rex cried in pain as Nia dodged out of the way of Roc's arcing kick and back to Brandon's side.

"Cheap trick." Rex groaned as he rubbed his head.

"Can't win in a straight fight," Brandon shrugged, "actual driver's skills are too much for me."

"Unless you missed the memo, you're a real driver now," Nia elbowed Brandon.

"Eh, it's more artificial though," Brandon pointed out, "the whole flesh-eater thing is kinda weird. Plus I haven't done this for that long."

"And yet you two are in perfect harmony," Mòrag stepped in, effectively ending the fight. "It took Brighid and me years to obtain the harmony we share now. Yet you two were able to achieve this in the first battle you fought as a proper Driver and Blade pair."

"Well…"

"And not only that," Mòrag continued, "that strategy that you used in that spar, you came up with on the spot yes?"

"Yeah."

"And somehow Nia followed along exactly as you intended, without a single spoken word between the two of you."

"Well, it wasn't quite as smooth as you might have expected."

"Hm?"

"All we did was improvised. Nia just took a cue from me. I was actually intending on creating a field of energy with the shields, almost exactly like the electrical net from yesterday but has more control over the potency. I just felt Nia tense up like a feline about to pounce as I was talking big so I held off and distracted for a second." He grinned at his blade, "apparently she's fast enough to even give Roc the slip."

"I detest the comparison."

Brandon laughed, good thing cat-like creatures existed in Alrest so he could make the joke. It was too good to pass up, despite Nia's dislike.

"You know I'm joking, I'm not one of those racist assholes with those stereotypes embedded into their brains."

"As amusing as this is," Mòrag cut in, "we still have work to do."

"Yes ma'am."

"First off," Mòrag started, "even though I did misjudge what exactly went down, it almost makes it better."

"How?"

"Because that isn't your, nor Nia's full potential. Least of all what you could do with your partnership."

"Again, how?"

"Think about it, if your teamwork is already good enough for the Special Inquisitor of Mor Ardain to think that you were in perfect sync, how good could you be if you were?"

"I mean maybe," Brandon responded, "but I don't think we can achieve perfect synchrony in a day."

"I'm not saying to achieve perfection within a day, or ever," Mòrag amended, "but the potential is there."

"Sure. Say we do have the kind of potential to somehow communicate psychically or something," Brandon said with so much sarcasm dripping from his voice, Nia could have sworn she could see the air quotes, "how the hell is that supposed to help us now?"

"Use that brain of yours," Mòrag said, "what do you think you can do if we focus a little?"

"Not much?"

"Wrong."

"I kinda agree with Brandon," Nia finally said, "what exactly are we supposed to be able to achieve? He only managed to talk me into this because I thought we were going to be learning about each other so we can cover each other's backs."

"That would be fine normally," Mòrag said, "but it is plainly obvious that you two work much better together. Normally I don't suggest that a small group goes off and do their own thing but in this case, I think that this could work in our favor. Torna is no doubt expecting us to try. I am certain that they would expect a machine that works together well. Therefore they would try to split us up and pick us apart."

"Divide and conquer huh."

"Yes, that's exactly the strategy I expect them to employ."

"Hence why you think that it's better if we train separately," Brandon frowned, "but what if you're wrong? What if they don't and we spend the entire fight tripping over each other?"

"Then we divide them. There's more than one way to spring the trap."

"Hmph. Fine. Nia?"

"Sure," she gave a shrug, "if that's what Mòrag says is best."

Mòrag gave a curt nod in response.

"Well then," Brandon said as he popped his knuckles, "let's get cracking."

….

 **Trying to write proper fight scenes again after a while is kinda hard. Not sure if that whole thing with Nia moving in combat made sense. I try to explain it by saying that she moved fast while Rex and Roc were focused on Brandon essentially monologing. Might change that if people say that it doesn't make sense.**

 **www . strawpoll . me / 18279470 to vote on the next story. It looks like Shield Hero is taking the lead so I'll get cracking on the first chapter when I get the chance.**

 **Don't forget to check out my twitch stream at www . twitch .tv / sparklehandss I stream almost every day from about 8 or 9 pm est to whenever I feel like ending. Stop by to say hi. If you have a question about my story or something don't forget to ask because I definitely can't put everything into these author's notes, I'll stop what I'm doing to answer.**


	22. Chapter 21: Last Day

**Kind of a short chapter but I've spent a good chunk of time on a different story.**

 **www . strawpoll . me / 18279470 Don't forget to vote on the next story.**

 **discord . gg / sq2J4HH decided to create a discord as it'll be easier to see announcements and stuff. It's not done yet, I'll work on it and finish it when I have the time.**

 **www . p a treon SparkleHands for the p a treon if you want to support. (delete spaces) I don't actually have anything on it yet but I'll be sure to put up goals and some perks when I get the chance. Also, leave what you would want as a perk or goal in either a review or pm.**

 **Now on with the show!**

… **.**

"Shit!" Brandon cursed as he stumbled backward.

Nia panted, lifting her hands and releasing a shockwave of water, immediately healing up any injuries Brandon had sustained and forced Zeke back.

"Damn it, Brandon," Nia groaned, her sword reappearing in her hand as Brandon dismissed it, "I can't heal you indefinitely." She moved forward, lifting her weapon to take the shock of Pandoria's electric staff and planted the scimitar into the ground.

"I know that- but..."

"The Zekenator is unstoppable!"

"Sure. Let's go with that." He held up a hand as he planted the other on a knee. Zeke lowered his guard and dropped his battle stance, slinging his massive sword onto his back.

"I wouldn't even go that far," Nia joked weakly, staggering over to Brandon who immediately draped an arm over her.

"Ew."

Brandon rolled his eyes, "I'm too tired for this, you're just as sweaty as I am."

"Take all the fun out of it why don't you."

"You two certainly have improved," Zeke cut in, his boisterous voice ringing out, "seriously, our old chum didn't make me try _this_ hard."

"How?" Brandon panted. That was just how much of a challenge Rex was for him. Zeke opened his mouth to respond but Brandon lifted a finger stopping him.

"Rhetorical question," Brandon let out a deep breath knowing that whatever Zeke would spout off would be almost certainly lacking in substance, "I've got a pretty good idea."

"Do you now?"

"Yeah, he's all skill and speed, no tactics or strategy," Brandon shrugged, "it's probably pretty difficult fighting someone with both when all you have is instinct and some good luck."

"I see that you're logic is almost impeccable and as usual, slightly flawed."

"Flawed?" Brandon exclaimed, obviously offended.

"Cool your head," Zeke said, "no need to get your knickers in a twist."

"I wasn't-oof-" Nia elbowed his side.

"You obviously were."

"Traitor," he doubled over and wheezed, clutching at his midsection, "was that really necessary?"

"No," she smirked, "but it got the message through your thick skull."

"Message?"

She sighed, "never mind then."

"Oh wait," he flushed red, "okay… so my brain isn't infallible."

"There we go."

Zeke laughed, causing Brandon to jump and reminding the two of his presence. How he had forgotten about the animated prince was beyond him.

"You two are a real riot you know that?!"

"It's just banter…"

"Exactly! Much better than the cutesy stuff that the rest of us go through!"

Brandon sighed, "our romance isn't supposed to be a sitcom."

"A… sitcom?" Zeke tilted his head, Pandoria following along but for once out of her own curiosity.

"It's a t.v…," he noticed their blank stares, "never mind. Old world concept."

"You seem to have a lot of those," Nia commented.

"Yeah well-"

Zeke cleared his throat, "are you two done being lost in your own world?"

"Sorry man," Brandon looked a little sheepish, "I used to get lost in my own world all the time." His eyes seemed to glaze over as he thought back to his old life, "I didn't really zone out much in Alrest but… seems like Nia just has a hypnotic effect on me." He smiled at the girl in question.

Nia went red before reacting with a huff.

"Gah!" Zeke threw up his arms, giving up with exasperation, "you know what? We're going to end this a little early. You look like you're going to fall over soon so you might as well be with your girlfriend and our chum needs more help anyway."

He took a couple of steps away from the pair before pausing. "I hope you two are ready for what lies ahead. Torna isn't going to suddenly ease up because you two are a couple."

"I hope so too," Brandon muttered to himself as he watched Zeke's form slowly walk away with Pandoria right at his side.

"Speaking of which," Nia said as she supported Brandon, "what do you think Torna's doing? They needed Pyra alive after all."

"I don't know," Brandon responded softly, almost as if talking to himself. What did Torna want with her? Why was the world tree their destination? It seemed almost certain that either Jin or Malos could easily wipe out Alrest with what powers that the two had combined so why did they need to go to the world tree? The sheer amount of power that control over elementary particles gave is incredible.

"All elementary particles…" He thought out loud. He felt Nia elbow him impatiently.

"What's on your mind?"

"I've been thinking. You heard Jin right?"

"About what."

"His power, his control over all elementary particles?"

"Yeah but I don't have any clue as to what that was all about."

"Heh," Brandon grinned with glee, about to get right into his element, "science lesson."

"... There's no way out of this is there?"

"Nope. Where to start? Hm… well for starters do you know what the world is made of?"

"Uh… stuff?"

"Eh," he shrugged, "didn't know what I was expecting."

"Oi!" she smacked his arm, "I didn't have any kind of proper schooling like you did."

"Yeah but the thought surely must have gone through your head at some point."

Nia just narrowed her eyes at him. Brandon held up his hands placatingly, "okay okay, jeez."

Nia rolled her eyes.

"The world, or rather, every physical thing in the universe is made of what we used to call matter. This quote-unquote matter is basically a collection of extremely small particles."

"So you're telling me that the world is made of small… particles?"

"Yup, tiny particles that are too small to see with the naked eye."

"So even smaller than cells?"

Brandon raised an eyebrow, "how do you know about cells?"

Nia shrugged as she pointed at her core crystal.

"Right," Brandon cleared his throat, "yes they're smaller than cells. We call these tiny particles atoms. There are about one hundred twenty different types of them, or at least that we know of. These atoms can be combined together to form molecules or a collection of atoms that are bonded or… er connected electronically."

"So different combinations of atoms means different molecules and… uh stuff?"

"Yeah, there are a bunch of other factors as well but that's just about the basics."

"But if Jin has control over all elementary particles…" Nia started piecing it together.

"Exactly," Brandon tapped a finger to Nia's forehead. She growled in annoyance but didn't do anything about it. "Jin can control these particles, meaning that he could have basically deleted us at any point but he chose to do almost nothing with his power."

"Well, maybe it's distance-based?" She speculated, "he did use it only on himself and a small distance around him."

"Hm," Brandon lifted his finger from her hand and brought his hand to his chin, "maybe. Now that I think about it that makes sense. Maybe he uses more energy the farther away the target is…"

"On top of that," Nia said, "when I was part of Torna…"

Brandon frowned at the expression on her face but nodded for her to continue.

She took a deep breath then continued, "Jin used to have to, and probably still has to recharge in a sealed pod. Some kinda restoring chamber."

"So he's not perfect. Good to know. But it's still bugging me. You know exactly what your powers are and all the principles around them right?"

"Uh, yeah," she nodded with a hint of pride, "like I know all the parts of a human body, all the parts of a cell, different types of bacteria and such."

"Here's the thing," he nodded as Nia's words confirmed it, "that should mean that he has a good understanding of particle physics. You remember my words about energy?"

"Yeah."

"Well nuclear energy, if released suddenly all at once, can become a massive explosion. Easily enough to eliminate a titan, literally reducing it to ash. That's caused by splitting atoms to create a chain reaction."

Nia's eyes widened and she covered her mouth to stifle a gasp, "Jin has the potential for that amount of power?..."

"Remember that this is all theory for now. We don't have any real concrete information so we can't really assume anything."

"Hm, well then no point in worrying about it then." She stretched herself out, lifting her arms to the sky. She sighed as she massaged her left shoulder, releasing some of the tension. She tensed as Brandon slipped his hands onto her shoulders then relaxed almost immediately. She let out a contented burble as he massaged her.

"That's a cute noise," he chuckled.

"Don't push your luck."

Brandon chose to simply continue to rub his hands into her shoulders. Nia chose not to complain.

"You know your technique could use some work."

"Really? Seems like you're enjoying this either way."

"It's mediocre," she smirked up at him to show that she was joking, "I also don't want to end up with a cramp."

"Oh come on! This isn't rocket science here. I can do this perfectly fine..."

* * *

"Another exhausted night," Brandon sighed. He walked over to the desk he had in his old room. He sat down and pulled out a circular computer. He tossed it onto the desk, immediately activating the hologram projector on the top.

"What're you working on?" Nia walked over and peeked over his shoulder.

"Hm? Oh, just some more armor modifications," he said, "I still need to work on the CAD files so we can change it up some more." He lifted his hand, touching the screen to start editing the file. Nia continued staring at the file. Brandon grinned then tossed her a smartphone.

"The first couple of apps are for students learning to code. Some others are to learn to CAD or to make 3D computer graphics. A couple of others are guides to basic computer parts and stuff. You can use the app called Youtube to look up tutorials."

Nia's eyes sparkled, "thank you!"

"For someone who seemed to hate my physics lectures, you seem to love learning."

Nia shrugged, "when it's interesting to me yeah."

"Uh… well, I guess I can't argue with that," Brandon sighed, "I've just made it part of my life to try to always learn something new."

"Which always has something to do with physics I'm assuming."

"Well… I uh… I have nothing, yeah."

That's pretty much what I thought," she snorted as she fiddled with the smart device.

"Don't get smart with me," Brandon said, "physics is incredible."

"Yeah yeah sure," Nia sighed sarcastically, "what was the main cause of this mess again?"

Brandon's face fell, "... physics."

"Though…" Nia relented slightly, "I am glad that what happened brought us together. As terrible as it sounds, if your world hadn't had ended Alrest would have never existed."

"I didn't end the world," Brandon complained.

"No," Nia admitted, "but your technology helped didn't it?"

"I guess?" Brandon replied, "I'm not entirely sure what exactly did happen to cause the end of the world."

"Well, whatever the cause," Nia dismissed, "it's not going to change anything."

"Yeah. Let's just focus on winning here," Brandon grinned, "I do have a surprise for you."

"Hm? Beyond this thing?"

Brandon responded by turning back to his computer and typing out several commands. A notification beeped on Nia's phone. She tapped on it curiously. A file pulled up on the screen. Her eyes lit up.

"What's this?"

"If you pulled up the first file it's a power source."

"For what?"

"Your new weapons and tools."

"Wha-?"

"Heh, I've got some new chakrams designed for you," he started rattling off, "an energy shield, some new knives for that belt on your hip, a grappling hook kind of similar to what Rex and I have, and a bunch of other stuff that I can't really remember right now."

Nia jumped to her feet, "really?!"

"I mean yeah," he shrugged, "Rex already got a bunch of gear from me from both yesterday and slightly after we started our adventure. They've still got some kinks to work out but they should be easily fixable, hence the smartphone."

"You're amazing," Nia hugged Brandon.

"I try my best," he grinned, "love you." He planted a kiss on her cheek.

"You too," she went back to the bed and laid down.

Brandon got back to work. He grumbled over the math on the screen and eventually busted out a pencil and some paper to start scratching out some calculations as well as typing away like mad into the calculator.

"Hey, how do I get these pieces to connect?" Nia asked after a while?

Brandon laughed, "you already need help?"

"What do you mean already?" Nia asked in confusion, "It's been an hour."

"Oh… uh whoops… guess time flies huh?" He chuckled sheepishly, "What was it you needed help with again?"

"Oh this here," she pointed.

"Huh? Oh, you just need to flush the pieces. This command here," he tapped the screen bringing up a toolbar, "this program is kinda not the best. Autodesk makes good programs but the one they designed for beginners is bad. They were going to phase it out for a new program... but you know… the end of the world."

Brandon swiped the computer off his desk and laid down next to Nia, placing the hologram on top of his stomach, foregoing his pencil. Nia snuggled up close.

The two continued to work on in a comfortable silence until sleep took them both.

* * *

"Come on Tora!" Nia yelled, "put your back into it!" She moved the scimitar, angling it so that Tora's drill glanced off of it.

Tora threw his shield at Poppi but Brandon lunged over, too slow to stop the shield so he threw an uppercut and knocked it into the air. Poppi lunged up at the stray weapon, activating her boosters to grab the shield before Brandon could even react.

Brandon formed a shield and flung it as Poppi redirected her shield at Tora. The two shields collided and reflected off of each other, buying Nia enough time to blast a wave of water at Poppi as well as toss her scimitar at Brandon who snatched it out of the air.

Brandon rushed Tora and slammed the pommel into Tora's head who went down hard. Poppi's eyes went wide but rather than break and rush over to her master she tightened her defensive stance. She moved in while Brandon was off guard, a metal fist slammed into his face.

Brandon cried out in pain as he stumbled back. Nia immediately lifted a hand, immediately healing Brandon's cheek. Poppi changed forms as a follow-up, the shield disappearing from the ground and gauntlets enveloped her fists.

Nia grinned and raised her fists triggering the metal bands around her wrists. Her weapons, chakrams, formed in her closed fists. The blades were immediately surrounded in an energy field, allowing her to completely envelop her weapons in water and focus the material to a razer edge a molecule thick. She immediately realized her mistake and dulled the blade but it wasn't necessary.

Poppi dismissed her weapons, "Poppi surrenders."

Nia unclenched her fists, her weapons folding back into her wristbands. She lifted a hand and healed the injuries that they had sustained while Brandon went over to inspect Poppi.

"Good," Mòrag clapped once.

"Tora, you need to focus on working more cohesively with Poppi."

Tora grumbled.

"NIa, Brandon. You two performed very well together as usual and keeping some surprises in store provided a good advantage and would have won you the battle even without Poppi's resignation," Mòrag complimented, "however, Brandon, you need to work on your defense. Nia, you seem to be still working on figuring out your power, almost as if you haven't used them in a while."

"Didn't take you for the sarcastic type, Mòrag," Nia snorted.

Mòrag smiled, "you two still don't seem to fully understand the Blade-Driver team combination. You two seem to understand the fighting style but don't seem to understand the power that comes from a perfect Driver-Blade pair. No doubt if you two didn't work so well as a team you would have eventually lost to Tora and Poppi."

"Well… shit."

"But, none of Torna has that kind of bond. While individually powerful, none of them make much of an effort to actually work together, it feels more like they just try to stay out of each other's way while covering any weak spots."

"That sounds like working together to me."

"It is close, however, it is not exact. They don't have the kind of coordination that you two or the rest of us have. Their moves don't specifically empower the others while working together."

"Hm… I guess."

"That's what we have in terms of advantage. A large advantage."

"I don't know if teamwork is such a big advantage."

"Oh but it is. There is a reason why we fight with an army and not just a single Blade-Driver combo."

"I thought that was a numbers thing."

"There is that. But no matter how powerful a single person is, if five can outsmart that person then they won't be able to win the fight."

"I guess so," Brandon sighed, "I just hope that all this damn training means we won't be so one sidedly beaten this time."

"Oh I have no doubt that we will at least give them a run for their money," Morag stated confidently, "now, I have an entire regiment planned out for you two."

"God damn it."

….

 **Last chapter with just Brandon and Nia just interacting. There have only been 3 votes so far on the next story so honestly, if I don't get more votes, I'm just going to start the Starcraft thing and hope that people like it.**


	23. Chapter 22: Striking Back

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… **.**

Brandon flopped onto a backseat along with Nia in the finally arrived Indoline ship.

"Any word?" Brandon asked as Rex opened the door and stepped into the main cabin.

"Diplomatic stuff," Rex sighed, "I couldn't really make heads or tails of it so I just left."

"Hmph, almost sounds like the pilot was making excuses then," Brandon sighed. He trusted the Praetorium about as far as he could throw the Indoline Titan, which would be less than a millimeter even with the most powerful mechs. The only reason why he even stepped foot into a religious vehicle was because he had no choice in the matter.

Not only did he dislike religious factions, he despised this one for what they did to Nia. Even now he could feel her body tensed up against his. He could tell just how nerve wracking being so close to the Praetorium, even just a ship, was for the Flesh Eater.

Hatred of religions wasn't a new thing for him anyway. The old world government had almost created their own, instead they had opted more for the old dictatorship tactic of the Empire's citizens worshipping the government and its leaders to shut down rebellion before it started. Of course it eventually failed as all empires do.

The Empire had been winning though. The rebellion was gaining some ground, recruiting more and more members as well winning battles through mostly hit and run tactics. But the empire started adapting.

They started setting traps, ambushes, high priority targets for the rebels to try to claim and the empire would spring. This stank like a trap. Not only the obvious one set by Torna but also the Praetorium. He couldn't help but feel a sneaking suspicion that something was going to go wrong very soon.

But of course there was nothing that they could do except spring it and hope that they were ready for whatever came through the gates.

Although to be perfectly honest, he was terrified of what's to come. The only thing giving him the strength to continue on was sitting right next to him, leaning on him. Oh and the rest of his friends. He chuckled to himself at the thought.

He would gladly die for his brother, blood or not.

He would gladly die for all of his friends.

Hopefully that would be enough.

"I'm going to check on the other," Rex cut into Brandon's thoughts.

"Alright, sure," Brandon dismissed casually. Rex smiled and headed out of the small cabin.

"Never lose your optimism," he whispered after the closing door.

"Hmph," Nia nudged Brandon.

"What?"

"Nothing for me?"

"What do you mean milady?"

Nia moved herself onto his lap. Brandon chuckled and wrapped his arms around her.

"What do you think?"

"Never stop being yourself, through the thick and thin."

Nia sighed as she finally relaxed, "you can be so oblivious sometimes."

"I know, I know," Brandon raised his hands. He could feel the soft shaking of Nia's body as she laughed. He rested a hand on her head.

"You know," Brandon said, finally saying what he had been wondering for a while, "what's up with your hair?"

"I'm not actually too sure myself," Nia responded, "I think it has something to do with my sister's appearance since that is close to the style that she wore. My blade form is my true form as you know but… seems like my other is from my sister."

"Oh shit, I didn't mean to bring it up like that."

"It's alright."

"It's really not, I don't think that it's 'alright' that you're so numb to the deaths of people close to you."

Nia breathed out, "oh for f- I'm not numb to it. I've managed to come to terms with my sister and father. Dromarch…" she sighed, "is a work in progress. But I've got you, haven't I?"

"You certainly do," Brandon said. He had never felt so good. A smile spread across his face, it felt good to be in love.

Brandon yawned, causing Nia to yawn as well. It had been a long several days of work and both were tired enough to prove it. At least neither felt overworked. Brandon felt that small sense of accomplishment and elation from a good workout. He felt Nia stretch and yawn again.

"You're so cute," he chuckled, "you want to get off me?"

"Why would I want that?"

"To get some sleep?"

"I can sleep perfectly fine like this."

"If you say so milady."

"I said I can…"

* * *

"Oi you two," Brandon awoke to Rex almost yelling in his ear, "we're here."

"Urgh wha-" he shook his head to focus, "right." He bounced his knees slightly to wake Nia who had surprisingly not woken from Rex's assault on their ears.

"Hrm? Oh. Right."

Rex laughed, "you two are a match made in Elysium. C'mon, let's hurry it up."

"Right," Brandon honed his focus as he let Nia stand up before standing up himself. He caught himself on Nia's shoulder, who sighed, as he stumbled, apparently having someone sit in your lap for several hours wasn't that good for your legs.

"Well uh… that isn't good."

"It's fine, you'll be able to walk it off," Rex tapped Brandon, "we have a ways to go."

"Oh no…"

"How are you able to fight for so long but still struggle on going for a long walk?" Nia elbowed him.

"Different muscle group?"

"Not sure if that's how it works."

"I don't know… leave my physical abilities alone."

"No offense intended," she laughed, "you had better get comfortable though. We're in for a long walk."

Brandon groaned, "Rex, you do know their location right?"

"About," came the reply, "I should be able to recognize it if it comes into vision and I should be able to pick it out from landmarks."

"So we're going to have to search the titan?" Brandon sagged at the thought. He hated long sieges, which is why the only one he participated in was the siege on the Low Orbit Station. While this wasn't even a siege, much less a long siege, it sure felt like it. Likely the fight itself will be relatively short, even compared to his hit and run battles.

"Well it will be relatively simple," Mòrag said as she walked by, "most of the titan is under the Cloud Sea so we'll have relatively little distance to cover."

"Oh well that's reassuring," Brandon snarked.

"Oh for crying out loud," Nia grabbed him by the ear and yanked him with her. Brandon cried out in pain and staggered along whining the entire way, "man up."

"Oh come on Nia," Brandon yelped, "let go already!" He used his arms to slip out of Nia's grasp and twisted his body around to lift up Nia bridal style.

"What!? Brandon!" Nia struggled, "put me down you jerk!"

"Of course milady… but you probably should have chosen your words better."

"Wha-?"

Brandon dropped Nia who fell ungracefully at his feet.

"Why you!" Nia rushed to her feet and sprinted after the inventor who had already rushed off.

"Looks like he's suddenly had a rush of stamina!" Rex laughed.

"Indeed," even Morag had to chuckle.

Nia finally grabbed Brandon's shoulder who's sweat production immediately doubled.

"Come on idiot, you've got to conserve some energy," Nia said simply, forgetting about her earlier burst of rage.

Brandon sighed, half in relief and half in exertion, "yeah you're right." He started off again at a slower pace but this time hand in hand with Nia. Despite how happy he was for the pair, Rex didn't feel entirely comfortable with the public display of affection so he stuck to fiddling with Roc's dual scythes.

Brandon noticed and grinned at Rex's discomfort. Deciding to torment his brother further, he swept Nia around waltz style. Nia was about to yell at the inventor but was interrupted by Brandon pressing his lips to hers.

"Mph, maybe warn me next time?"

"Couldn't help myself," Brandon said unapologetically.

"Oh for… ugh," she pushed herself to her feet and rose up one her toes, returning the kiss.

"Can we get a move on?" Rex called, annoyance lining his voice, "I want to hurry up and get Pyra back."

Brandon's response was an unintelligible warble.

"Come on buckethead," Nia linked an arm through his, "Let's get a move on."

Rex gasped in pain behind the pair. Brandon snapped back into focus and rushed back to Rex in concern, holding him up.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine," Rex panted, "but I think Pyra's in trouble."

"Shit," Brandon cursed, "there's no way that they haven't done anything till now for no reason. They have to know we're here."

Rex nodded, "Let's hurry."

* * *

"Finally," a voice echoed out from the ruins of a once mighty civilization, "I've been expecting you."

"Malos," Nia hissed between gritted teeth and immediately summoned her weapon, passing it along to Brandon.

Malos noticed. "Your core crystal. I see you've finally given up on your little human act. Are you just looking for a place to belong? Or are you just a fickle child who doesn't know what she-"

"Shut up!" Brandon interrupted, adjusting himself so that he stood partially in front of Nia, "nobody talks to her that way."

"So you're the piece of human trash that she bonded with," Malos spat, regarding the inventor as little more than trash, "pathetic. The power and life of a blade given to a child willingly."

"Save it," Brandon said with just as much venom dripping from his voice, "we're here for Pyra."

"Oh her? She's probably dead by now."

Rex stepped forward, "I'm alive," he slammed a fist into the core crystal fragment in his chest, "she's alive."

"Is that what you think? Well then, I'll just have to hold you here till she is."

"You bastard!" Rex took a step but was blocked by Brandon.

"He's trying to enrage you, make you make mistakes. Don't fall for it."

"You think I need you to make mistakes to take you on?" Malos snorted in amusement, "don't flatter yourselves."

Brandon frowned, finding it to be difficult himself to not simply charge in.

"You've done well to make it this far," Malos continued taunting, "but this is the end of the line." He raised the sword in his hand which Brandon had just noticed for the first time. He cursed as purple black energy sphere formed in the center of their party. Brandon reacted the quickest, knowing exactly what is was that assailed them, grabbing Nia and hauling her out of range.

The energy ate through the stone floor and formed a perfect hemisphere of nothingness before air rushed back in to fill the vacuum, sucking in Tora who had been the closest to the pocket of air that had been erased from existence. Poppi rushed in to save her master.

"What the hell is this?" Zeke exclaimed. Nia held out a hand to prevent the hotheaded prince from charging in.

"Watch it shellhead, Malos' power destroys anything it touches. It'll take your arm or your head right off."

"It's antimatter," Brandon continued, "that's his power. You don't have to understand this but it can be neutralized from interacting with the environment with a specific magnetic field but once that's removed it deletes whatever it touches."

"Don't go near the science mumbo jumbo. Got it," he said as he tossed his massive sword to Pandoria who planted it in the ground and pulled her staff out. She pointed her staff and fired off an electric stream at Malos.

"Wait," Brandon muttered, noticing that Malos had simply planted himself down, "stop!"

Malos smirked and lifted his sword and blocked the flow, which immediately blackened and followed the electricity back to the staff. Pandoria cut off the flow but it was too late as the energy had already traveled halfway down the staff, erasing part of it.

"What the hell?" Pandoria yelled in shock, causing even Rex to jump.

"Shit, electricity may only be energy but the heat of the energy turns the air into plasma which is physical matter. Gives him a direct path to you."

"How do we fight him then?" Pandoria yelped as she dodged a lunge from Malos.

"You have me," Nia said as she lifted a hand, sending out a bubble of her own power, immediately restoring Pandoria's staff and canceling out the menacing black cloud around Malos.

"Nia!" Malos looked enraged, "you-"

"Me," she said in response as Brandon took up position beside her, her voice brimming with confidence, "I should have used this power sooner, but I was afraid. Lives have been lost because of my fear."

"Nia-"

She grabbed his hand, "but someone taught me I don't have to be afraid." The two exchanged a brief smile.

"Your power may destroy Malos," Nia said, a renewed vigour in her voice, "but mine restores. There is no wound that you can inflict that I cannot heal. No damage that I cannot mend. Blade or Driver. As long as my friends, my family, have the will to keep going, that's all I need."

Brandon smirked as he held up Nia's blade with gauntlet covered hands. Nia's hand reached over and gripped the sword as well. "I think it's about time we end this, Brandon, everybody!"

"Right. Let's go!" Brandon charged, prompting the rest of the party to follow.

Malos braced himself against the ground as Brandon immediately clashed with him, using his blade to slide across the massive dark sword. He edged his blade off of Malos' and tried getting a slash in but Malos ducked out of the way while blocking a strike from Morag at the same time.

Despite the combined attacks of every person, Malos easily bobbed and weaved through the jungle of attacks, melee or otherwise, on top of throwing out different antimatter attacks.

However, despite the sheer skill and power Malos possesed, he was slowly pushed back as the sheer numbers that Brandon's team possessed were able to slowly push past his defenses. Brandon himself provided much support, lacing the battlefield with well aimed shields that worked to soften up Malos' defenses as well as laying out traps, less to actually trip up Malos but more to keep him on guard as he backed up.

Even the few times that Malos was able to counterattack he got in very little damage, which was immediately healed.

"Gah! That's an annoying power!"

"So sorry," she mocked, "but I prefer my friends alive." Brandon moved in again, catching Malos' blade with his own but this time holding his own against Malos' strength. He struggled for a second before Nia moved in and grabbed the back of her blade to support him.

Malos jumped back breaking off of the sword cross, barely reacted in time to the electrically charged swing of Zeke's sword.

"Don't you know when to give up Malos?" Nia taunted.

"Ha!" Malos targeted Nia and Brandon and charged. He swung out hard, Brandon blocked but was flung back into a wall.

"Give up? Can't you see how weak you are?" Nia lifted a hand, immediately healing Brandon's broken ribs. "Heal all you want, but you can't even scratch me. Where are your claws kitty?"

"Hmph, Brandon."

He nodded, "got it." He extended Nia's blade to her. She grabbed the hilt and started channeling energy into the weapon, water funneling up into the air. Brandon took his cue and pulled the blade back and charged at Malos, swinging his blade again but this time when they connected a swirl of water rose out of the blade and surrounded Malos. Brandon backed off.

"Really? Is that it?" Malos laughed as the water orbs sank into his body, "I hardly even felt it." He suddenly doubled over in pain as every part of his body started swelling.

"Gah! What is this? What have you done to me?"

"I altered the replication rate of your body's cells," Nia said simply, "even you, an immortal blade, is made from the same stuff as the rest of us. I simply used my knowledge with Brandon's."

"Jin… He saw that power, grk."

"Maybe," Nia said as she watched parts of Malos' body start to fail and bursts of blood started exploding out from his armor.

"But I've just got one thing to say to you. I've found the place where I belong: right here with my family."

Malos' eyes narrowed to slits with rage, his cool exterior finally failing him. He decided to strike where it hurt. A decision was made and he lunged forward, low to the ground, at Brandon. Brandon's eyes widened in stark contrast to Malos' and he moved a hand to block the low strike. Only the desperate strength of the injured blade was, for once, too much for Brandon's gauntlet, slicing through it, Brandon's arm underneath, and right through his unarmored leg. That evidently took the rest of Malos' strength as he fell face first onto the ground and stopped moving. Rex finally moved, coming out of his shock, and with the help of Roc, used the wind to blow the body of Malos off the cliff.

Brandon gasped, more from surprise than pain as the adrenaline cut the pain levels, as he collapsed from the shock, the stumps of his limbs bleeding profusely. Nia screamed, her emotions running out of check. Her power expanded out and immediately stopped the bleeding but even her power couldn't regenerate lost limbs.

She ran up and slid to Brandon's side on her knees, "no no no NO!" She slumped over Brandon's body, "please please please!" She sent healing wave after healing wave through his limp body. Brandon coughed in pain and Nia immediately started crying in relief as she enveloped him in a bone-crushing hug.

"Ugh," he groaned as he weakly returned the hug with his remaining arm, "I'm fine… kind of."

"You're not fine," Nia said, "you are the opposite of fine. We've got to get you back to some kind of hospital-"

"I can fight."

Nia scoffed, "like how?"

"Disregarding the missing limbs… well, your healing is better than any hospital so I'm fine in that regard. But I think I can do something with my armor…" Brandon trailed off as he continued his thought process in his head.

"Come on we've got to get you back-"

"No, Rex," Brandon said softly but firmly, "you need to go on ahead. Go save your girlfriend."

Rex gritted his teeth in frustration, "no we've got to-"

"I said I'm fine. Nia's got me but you're running out of time."

"I don't leave men behind."

"No, our intelligent chap is right," Zeke disagreed, "Furry Ears is probably better than any doctor in any Titan but we've got to keep moving."

"Seriously," Brandon gave a grin to try to reassure his friends, "I'll catch up to you guys."

Rex finally relented, "fine," he said though obviously frustrated he couldn't do more, "you'd better be okay."

He turned and started heading back up through the ruins. The others reluctantly followed.

"What were you thinking?!" Nia had never wanted to slap the inventor more.

"I have a plan," Brandon responded, "just prop me up."

"Like how?"

"Just give me a backrest."

Nia sighed and helped him into a sitting position. Brandon summoned his armor, but only part of it. Despite not having made many modifications to it, choosing instead to have worked on setting up stuff for Nia, he had made it more useful. For example, a sensor on the back of his helmet to read his brainwaves to make the movement more fluid. He grimaced.

"I'm going to need your healing again soon," he said as he opened up a chunk of his leg armor. He took out a piece of metal and laid it to the side after fiddling with it for a bit.

"What? What are you about to do?"

He took out several different metals, powders, and a small bottle of water in which he mixed them together forming a potent acid. He dunked the metal in the acid bottle and left it sitting there.

"Urk," he bit down on his tongue hard enough to cause bleeding as he made an incision in the stump of his leg.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Nia yelled in something akin to rage.

"It's all good," he mumbled as he swallowed a mouthful of blood. He grimaced as he took the metal, wiped off the acid, and slid it into the slit. The metal, turning out to be a fancy piece of improvised technology, hooked directly onto his bone and nervous system.

Nia hissed as he finished up and she closed his wounds, healing both his ripped tongue and wound around his leg, sealing the stump around it. Brandon twitched in discomfort but hooked up the armor legs to the metal device in his actual leg.

"Alright," he stood up, "the armor is hooked up directly to my nervous system so I'll be able to walk and run around like normal."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Nia yelled.

"Wha-"

"You go around and act as if losing a leg and an arm is normal. Do you know how worried I was? I thought that I had lost you then you act as if it was no big deal. You act as if this is more important."

"Nia I-"

"No, I can't really deal with this right now," she clutched her head, "we should catch up to Rex, since this is so important."

"... What did I do?" Brandon whispered to himself as he watched Nia slowly walk away.

….

 **Sorry if this chapter was a little more gruesome than the others. I just felt like there's been little actual threat to their safety. It may seem like Brandon overcame a grievous wound too easily but I glossed over how much time that would have actually taken. Doing something like what he did would normally take a while, which it did but I kind of glossed over it because it's kind of uninteresting. I mean who wants to read "he put this exact mass of this exact compound to make this exact molarity of this exact acidic solution to disinfect the end of a metal stick." Sure it makes for a good lab report but not so much for a story. While characters have died they were mostly the unimportant ones like Dromarch, Boreas, and Niall though Niall is slightly more important but his death did something to the plot a little.**

 **Small fight between Nia and Brandon which was inevitable to be honest. IDK whether to make that more serious or not. at the moment but if this one isn't serious, I'll be sure to throw a monkey wrench in somewhere else. It's part of a love story archetype to have some kind of conflict after all.**

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	24. Chapter 23: The Fall

**Milestone reached, 10k views! 9.6k more than my twitch :(**

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 **So the Starcraft fic for now is a one off thing. Going to write more of it later but I'm going to focus on finishing this for now.**

 **Now on with the show!**

… **.**

Brandon limped along behind Nia, every time he tried to walk alongside her to talk she sped up to stay several paces ahead so he eventually gave up. He understood that he was acting a little too casual about the whole situation but something like missing limbs wasn't too uncommon before Alrest and was relatively easy to fix. Even with his limited medical knowledge and time, his tech is enough to be able to patch it up decently, or at least well enough to fight. He could fit a proper prosthetic onto his leg and arm later. There would be an opportunity later, especially if the proper database satellites were still in position.

He sighed, allowing the sound to escape from his helmet. He heard Nia scoff quietly but he heard it easily with his enhanced sensors. This was important, the future of Alrest could depend on whether they could beat Torna. His health was irrelevant, if he could fight, that's enough for him. He could worry about his health later.

Why couldn't Nia see that? His frustration was, or rather would be plainly visible if his helmet wasn't up. He knew that this wasn't relationship ending, obviously wouldn't be if she was upset over his health, but still.

What was he supposed to do? Roll over and give up? Over a fixable issue?

He wanted to fix this as soon as he could but with how Nia was ignoring him, it wouldn't be resolved too soon. He grimaced and pulled down his helmet. One more try.

Before he could increase his pace, Nia sighed and reduced hers.

She moved back to one pace ahead of Brandon.

"You want to talk? Talk."

"What did I do to upset you so much?" He asked, his voice wavering slightly from hesitation, "I was doing what was best. It's not like this was the worst-"

"It's not about that."

"Then what-?"

"I know that this is the best course of action. I get that I'm a better source of healing than hospitals. I know that you can figure out your lost limbs with your fancy technology. But you keep forgetting that you're only human," her voice cracked, "what about your life? You're never going to be the same again."

Brandon's mouth opened but his words died in his throat.

"It doesn't matter if you can replace them with some kind of near perfect machine, you lost a part of _you_!"

She stopped with her head tilted down. Brandon slowed to a halt behind her.

"Why do you always have to look at things from an objective standpoint?" her voice soft, "You keep taking out an element that makes us human. It doesn't matter that I know you'll be fine. It doesn't matter if I know that you can fix yourself. I'm human too damn it! And you haven't taken how I feel into account!"

She whipped around, tears streaming down her face, hands balled into fists.

"I love you! So how do you think I felt when I saw you come so close to death? Huh?" She finally broke off the distant act and wrapped herself around him, her face pressed into his armored shoulder. Brandon went stiff. "You're always taking the most logical course of action, the one that makes the most sense taking into account of all these different factors, even when your logic is completely wrong or makes no sense."

Brandon twitched in realization. Her sister. Her dad. Her blade.

"You act like your life isn't important. I don't know if you realize that sometimes. You act like your life only stands for one vendetta and that's not how you're supposed to live a life. Conviction is one thing, but letting your life be _so_ defined by one thing is dangerous. I've lost everything I've ever loved because of that. I don't want to lose you too. I can't watch you die."

Brandon hugged her back. "I'm sorry," he whispered, "I'm so sorry..."

"I know you want to help Rex. But you can't live it as if you don't matter. As if there aren't people who care for you."

"I know. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Brandon could only sob out.

"Oh stop apologizing. That's not going to solve our problems. You're fine, I just overreacted."

"I'm sorry."

Nia smacked the top of Brandon's head. "What did I just say?"

"So-" he caught himself, "yes ma'am."

"Better," she cracked a small smile through her tears. "Don't you dare forget how important you are to me. Got it?"

"Of course milady."

"That's all I ask."

* * *

The pair trudged on, their progress hampered a great deal by both Brandon adjusting to missing a leg as well as stopping frequently to stop and rest. No doubt Rex would engage The rest of Torna before they could arrive but there was nothing they could do about it except try to speed along their progress.

Brandon frowned as he sat down at the latest rest point. He was sitting down cross legged on the stone floor of an ancient building, his back against one of the more stable walls. He couldn't help but feel frustrated again. This frustration was also aimed at himself, but he was targeting his body this time rather than his mind.

"Stop beating yourself up."

Brandon jerked in surprise, "huh?"

"I can tell you're upset," Nia nudged the inventor from his right side, his good side, "I know you're upset that we can't be with Rex right now. But bashing your head into the wall isn't going to help us speed up."

"I'm not-"

"I meant figuratively."

"I know that. I'm not stupid. I meant-"

Nia leaned her head back and pressed the back of her hand into her forehead in annoyance, "Brandon. I know you. Sometimes I feel like I know you better than you know yourself. I know how stressed you are over Rex's safety and Torna."

"I can't help but be worried."

"Which is natural, but also won't help," Nia sighed, "you're doing more than just worrying though. You're blaming yourself."

"How can I not?"

"Well, because it's not your fault?"

"Are you kidding me? How is this not my fault? If I had spent more time working-"

"And there it is," Nia sighed, "this isn't going to help us. It's only going to make you less effective in battle. And here I was praising your intelligence."

"This won't interfere with my-"

"Yes it will," Nia rubbed her forehead, "take it from the damn medical expert."

"Physical-"

"Mental health is still part of health, meaning it still falls under what I can do."

"Didn't help with your d…" Brandon winced, "I'm sorry…" he clutched his head, "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. You're right, I'm too stressed over this."

Nia pursed her lips but didn't press the issue, instead she wrapped her arms around him in understanding. Brandon leaned his head on Nia's shoulder in gratitude,

"I know you didn't mean that," Nia mumbled, "but please don't ever say something like that again."

"I… know," he clenched his teeth, "I hate this so much."

"I know."

"I hate everything Torna stands for. I hate how they'll do anything to further their goals. I hate how twisted their morals are but I can't find a flaw in their logical process."

Nia rolled her eyes. She tilted Brandon's head up slightly to rest her's under his. "You're taking out the human part again. Emotions aren't necessarily governed by the laws of logic."

He let out a slow breath, "of course. Makes me wonder if I'm really human then."

"Well," Nia grinned slightly, "you're at least ninety percent human."

"Oh so we're allowed to make light of that now?"

"Like I said," Nia nudged Brandon slightly with her head, "I overreacted. This is more my way of saying sorry."

Brandon chuckled lightly. "Well then, thanks."

"I'm not letting you off the hook that easily though," she warned "I'm still going to force you to fix yourself completely when this is all over. And I'm going to make sure that you do it properly."

"That doesn't sound that bad," Brandon shrugged with his free shoulder, "I was kind of planning on doing that anyway. Not like I want to sit here with a half functioning body."

"Oh?" Nia grinned evilly, "you'll be doing it to my _exact_ specifications."

"Uh… that can be interpreted several different ways."

"Wha…? Ew, gross Brandon, didn't know you were that perverted."

Brandon laughed, "just pointing it out."

"Ugh… well either way, don't think that we're ready for that step yet."

"Now who's perverted?" he chuckled, "but yeah, totally agree. Though on the topic of perversion," Brandon's chuckling evolved in full on laughing, "you've got a really nice-"

The titan rumbled.

"What the hell was that?" Brandon got to his feet as quickly as his one leg would allow him.

"I don't know," Nia grunted as she helped support Brandon.

"We'd better hurry it up," Brandon groaned as he tried to take a step but stumbled, still unused to using his armor as a leg. Nia caught him.

"Brandon, see reason. You're not fit to travel fast right now."

"But what if they're in trouble?"

"Then you can't help much anyway."

"You're the healer. I knew I should have sent you-"

A smack resonated in the air. Brandon reeled back in shock.

"I'm sorry," Nia said, determination burning in her voice, "but you wouldn't listen. Remember what we said? What we promised to each other?"

Brandon paused then slowly nodded. Nia extended a hand. He took it.

"Together."

* * *

The battle had already started.

"Malos," Nia breathed, utter shock lining her voice.

"Of course, he's a damn Aegis," Brandon scowled. He was beginning to hate that title. Though he couldn't bring himself to hate Pyra. For how much trouble she and Mythra had been, he really liked her. Plus she was the reason he and Nia met in the first place.

Nia gasped, "there!" she pointed.

Brandon's eyes followed the finger. "That's… Pyra. Oh what did they do to you?"

Twitch. "Move!"

Nia sprung back, hauling Brandon with her. Brandon grimaced with fear. The ground where they had just been standing was gouged out. His eyes moved to the side to see the flickering afterimage of Jin.

"Guys!" Rex grunted, "I'm the only one who can even see Jin! Do not engage."

Brandon nodded, "Think we can take Malos?"

"Probably not but let's give it a go anyway," Nia grinned confidently, "though I doubt he's just going to let us do that attack again."

"We'll just have to come up with something new then."

"I like the way you think."

"Some definitely won't work though."

"And why's that?"

"If he can survive super cancer and getting chucked off a cliff," Brandon reasoned, "I doubt that most things will even scratch him at this point."

Zeke skidded to a stop next to them. "Damn right," he panted, "we've been keeping him off of Rex but we can't seem to do any damage, almost like our first fight but even worse. We've only been able to hit him with ranged attacks or we risk getting annihilated by his dark power."

Brandon nodded and stepped forward, Nia mimicking his movement. Brandon lifted his hand and summoned Nia's weapon to it. "Well what's the plan? I don't know your powers near well enough."

"Hm. Maybe if increasing his cell's replication rate didn't work," she said, "we can decrease the replication rate, making sure that his regeneration isn't nearly as potent as it is now."

"Let's go for it," he nodded, pulling his helmet up, and rushed in, Nia matching him pace for pace.

"Ah," Malos laughed, "I take from that metal clanking that you're running on prosthetics." He lifted up his dark sword. "There's no way you can fight for long or as well on those!"

Brandon barely blocked a powerful blow, glancing it off of his sword. He grimaced, knowing that if he had taken the blow full on he would have crumpled like a ragdoll. He didn't think he could take another.

"Oh what's wrong?" Malos mocked, "is the big bad inventor out of ideas?"

"Nope," Brandon chuckled, "you haven't checked around you."

"Wha-" he looked around, "this again? Really?" The water surrounded him completely.

"Yes this again," Brandon smirked as the water flowed into Malos' body.

Malos laughed, "I'm immune to this kind of attack now. You're finished."

"You'd be immune if it was exactly the same," he shrugged, "too bad it's the opposite."

"So you're slowing down my regeneration huh?" Malos shrugged, "not really concerned."

Brandon's smirk went flat. Nia's expression shifted to one of concern. "Damn."

"You have a plan B?" Brandon whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

"Well it was to attack him and take advantage of the slowed regen but if he's that nonchalant about it," she frowned, "either he's bluffing or he's really not that affected."

"Bet it's the second."

"Suckers bet."

The corner of Brandon's mouth lifted in amusement, slightly surprised that the term still made it through.

"You ready?"

"Borne ready."

The pair moved forward cautiously, followed closely by their friends.

"Abandon you? When you are injured, I feel your pain! When you feel pain! I feel the sorrow in your heart!"

"Damn it," Brandon's face twitched, "what the hell is Rex doing?"

Malos laughed maliciously, "looks like the kid's finally lost it."

"You bastard!" Nia yelled, transferring her weapon from Brandon's hand to hers as she blasted a blade of water at the Blade. Malos deflected it with a simple blade movement then moved quickly to block a strike by Brandon, the weapon having transferred itself seamlessly.

"Is it just me or have you gotten weaker? Boy."

"Losing a part of you would do that," he growled, "maybe I should return the favor!"

"You think you can even lay a fin-!"

A shockwave knocked everyone back.

"What?!" Malos almost screamed in rage.

A brilliant emerald light emitted from the center of the battlefield and surrounded Rex. A sword materialized in front of him. He gawked for a second before lowering his head slightly and grabbed the sword, letting out a battle cry.

Brandon's grin split his face as he watched Pyra float off the ground, enveloped in the same light as Rex. She landed, covered in an emerald and white armor.

"Pyra?"

She smiled and nodded. "I'm fine… Rex. You don't need to worry anymore." She waved a hand in front of him, replacing his old salvager suit with glowing green and white armor in the same style as hers.

"Yeah!" Brandon pumped a fist "you're so screwed now!"

Malos simply backhanded Brandon away. He was thankful for the kinetic shock absorbers because otherwise his jaw would have been shattered. Even so he was still sent sprawling across the ground.

Rex instantly appeared in front of Malos, slamming the hilt of his sword into Malos' head before blinking away to re-engage Jin.

"The true power of an Aegis," Nia breathed in wonder as Rex sailed overhead, slamming his adversary into the cliff face and dragged him across the rock.

"Holy shit. Why… how does a sword let him do that?"

Nia shrugged, "magic?"

"What? That's-"

She elbowed him, "I'm joking, buckethead."

"Uh, right. I knew that."

"Right."

Brandon winced as Jin was flung behind him and carved out a gouge in the stone floor.

"Damn."

Rex landed next to him, skidding to a halt.

"You little shit!" Malos screamed, "you want to die so bad? Fine then." He turned around. "Ophion!"

The titan rumbled. The giant metal serpent emerged from the clouds and blasted a massive beam of plasma at the team. Brandon, using his enhanced strength, slammed a foot into the stone, flipping up a massive slab and bracing his back on it as he surrounded it in an energy shield. The plasma took a second before stripping the energy away and started carving into the slab.

"What? Ophion!" Pyra called, "stop this!" She lifted a hand clad in white. A massive beam of plasma streaked down from the sky and tore into the Artifice Ophion. Siren descent from the upper atmosphere to distract the other Artifice, slashing a massive energy sword at Ophion. The serpent turned to face the Artifice of light.

"Holy-" Brandon's jaw dropped. "Well then!" he turned toward the dark Aegis, "it looks like you've got nothing left! Still think you can win?" he taunted.

"Ophion!"

The serpent turned, ignoring its adversary for a second to fire a powerful blast at the ruins.

"That's not plasma…" He jumped in shock before turning and sprinting for Nia. He wrapped her up in a hug and surrounded them in the most powerful shield he could create, desperately trying to shield her from the gravitic attack.

Siren flew in front of the attack trying to use its chassis to block the attack. The blast shook the Artifice, rending several parts of the robot and sent it flying.

Brandon clenched his eyes shut and clutched Nia even tighter. The gravitational wave struck. It tore apart the foundations of the ancient structure, blasting everyone in different directions off the cliff into the void around the World Tree.

* * *

Brandon awoke with a start. It took him a moment to get his bearings. The moment he did, he lifted his head, and slammed it into Nia's.

"Ow!" She exclaimed, jerking back and covering her nose.

"Sorry…" he rubbed his neck sheepishly. "Wait… why was I on your-"

"No reason!" she blushed.

Brandon grinned, "love you." He leaned in for a kiss.

Someone gagged. "Ugh you two."

"Guh! Mythra?"

"What?" She crossed her arms, "I landed here just like you two… wherever here is."

Brandon grimaced, "I know where we are but you're not going to like it." He swallowed. "We're in my world. The ancient ruins of Morytha."

Nia grit her teeth. "Figured as much, what are we supposed to do?"

Brandon glanced around, "no sign of the others. They could have landed anywhere." he sighed, "I know my way around." He pointed around them with a sense of familiarity, "welcome to the former Solar Empire, or known as in its glory days, the United States of America. This is the home of the first low orbit station, a technological and scientific masterpiece. I'm assuming that Rex and the others would head to the roots."

"A logical assumption," Mythra nodded, "we should probably get moving."

"Yup," Brandon said then pulled Nia into a kiss.

"Why?" Mythra groaned in complaint.

Brandon laughed as he broke off, "to make you jealous."

"Jealous of what?"

"Jealous that you can't do this with your boyfriend."

"Wha- what?" Mythra blushed furiously, "he's not my boyfriend!"

"Sure sure," he took Nia's hand, "tell yourself that."

"He's really not!"

"That may be true," he admitted, "but you still want him to be don't you?"

"Eep!" she squeaked in response.

"I'll take that as a yes," he chuckled, "come on! You'll be so much happier once you accept that. Although I doubt that he would realize unless you literally whacked him on the face with your emotions."

"Well… ugh, Pyra's so much better with this emotion stuff."

"Hah! That's not even remotely close to true," Brandon wiped a tear away, "you know she's got her emotions as bottled up as Rex. And she's just as Naive."

"Yeah," Mythra snorted. She raised an eyebrow. "You know, I didn't think we were ever this close."

"Hm? Oh, well..." he looked at her directly then bowed, "I never got the chance to do this… but thank you for taking care of my younger brother. Even if we aren't too close… we're still friends right?"

"Friends?"

"What? Are you so shocked?" he placed a hand on his chest, "I'm insulted."

"I guess I've never thought about it," she said, "you just seem to do your own thing with Nia."

"Eh, true enough," Brandon shrugged, "I guess I have been kind of distant."

"Totally understand," she placed a hand on his shoulder with a grin. "I know how in love you two are."

"Yup," a goofy smile spread across his face as he lost himself in Nia's eyes.

"That wasn't a cue for you to start making out."

"Sorry," he laughed, breaking away right before his lips made contact, "don't tell me you don't want to get it with Rex."

"Of course I don't," she huffed, "whatever put that idea in your head?"

"I've seen the way you look at him. Almost like Nia looks at me."

"Hey," she hit him lightly, "I don't look that love struck… do I?"

"Oh yes you do," a real belly laugh, "maybe not as much as me, but you do. I can assure you of that."

"Well I uh," she stammered, "I don't look to stupid right?"

"Not too much."

"Mmh, good enough."

"Well then," he linked his arm through Nia's "let's go find the others."

….

 **He was totally about to say face. Nothing perverted there.**

 **So turns out that sitting in a plane with nothing to do can really help to motivate you to do something productive. Yeah, I was away from home for a couple of days but now I'm back! Going to do some serious streaming and gaming and writing because school starts up pretty soon. Where did the summer go? Ah well.**

 **Come and check out some of my other stuff, just got the Starcraft story up but there doesn't seem to be much interest so far. Some people watching my stream would also be nice, don't forget I'm always willing to answer questions or get feedback if you pop online for a couple of minutes.**


	25. Chapter 24: Familiar Lands

**Chapter done! Finally… yeah sorry about the late chapter, some college stuff came up and streaming again. I feel like I've been just doing dialogue mostly, which is fine for this as dialogue is important in a story like this, and is something that is emphasized in JRPGs anyways but I'm going to try to write more descriptive things as well as thoughts.**

 **Join the discord if you ever want to chat or something. I might even have some cool stuff on it in the future.**

 **If you know what Starcraft is and you know how good Koreans are, perhaps you'd like to check out my stream where you will get the pleasure of watching a Korean suck at the game. Don't know how the one Finnish guy is dominating right now.**

 **Now on with the show!**

… **.**

"Ow!"

Brandon rubbed his head as he crawled his way out from under an old vehicle.

"Be careful buckethead," Nia hissed, "why are you doing this anyway?"

"This is what we called a car," Brandon responded while wiping his nose, "used to transport people quickly from point a to point b."

"You sure it'll work?"

"I mean," he looked up, "the buildings are about half gone like some giant just slashed a massive sword through them. But whatever's been eating away the buildings looks like it hasn't quite reached the ground. It honestly looks perfectly preserved other than a few technical issues from certain parts rusting away. Most of the chassis and engine are completely intact from the anti-rusting paint." He wiped sweat away from his forehead.

"Mythra, could you shine some light on this section."

"Sure," she pointed her hands at the old car and let loose with her power. Brandon squinted and covered his face with an arm, Nia doing much the same.

"There, that good enough?"

"Let's see," Brandon hopped inside and hit the power button. The engine coughed and sputtered to life then settled down into near silence."

"Did it break?"

"No," Brandon gestured for the others to get in, "electric engines are just quiet. Now come on!"

"Right." The two clambered into the ancient technological marvel, the car tilting slightly as each person got in before readjusting its center of gravity.

"Alright girls, fasten your seatbelts."

"Seat… Belts?"

"Oh right," he smacked his forehead, "that strap over there above your shoulder. You pull that down and put the buckle into the clip at your side."

"Oh, what for?"

"Safety… though I guess it doesn't apply to you two as much," he rubbed his head, "just put it on so that you don't go flying out of the car if we crash."

"If we crash?" Mythra said in slight discomfort. She squirmed in her seat.

"That's a very small if," Brandon reassured, "I was a decent pilot."

Mythra sighed in relief.

"Although I suppose that was mech piloting."

"Wait what?!"

Brandon laughed and floored the accelerator, "relax, don't worry about it. Every person had to take a test and get a license before being allowed to drive, no matter where in the world you were, nor what government you were under. So relax. Besides, you could definitely survive something as measly as a car crash."

"That doesn't mean I don't feel pain!" she snapped, "your amor saved your life multiple times but didn't prevent you from getting hurt."

"I suppose so..."

"Hey that was uncalled for!" Nia huffed.

"It's all right," Brandon smiled softly, "I do kinda deserve that."

"No no," Mythra looked out a window, "I'm sorry."

"You're fine, really," he hummed to himself with some amusement, "don't think I've ever heard you apologize before."

"What? I'm not-"

"I'm just messing with you," he glanced over his shoulder before focusing on the old road in front of him.

"Hmph…" she looked out the window still relatively curious, "how is this thing floating anyway?"

"Oh that?" Brandon's eyes lit up as Nia let out a sigh, "the roads are lined with metal tracks, the cars use electromagnets to hold themselves up."

"Magnets… how does that stop them from just flying off to the side?" Mythra tapped the driver's seat.

"It's the sidewalk," he tapped the windows, gesturing at the concrete, "there's metal planted there as well so the car auto adjusts itself. It's a pretty complicated system so most of this had the cities reconstructed in order to install the new tech when the space station was installed."

"Hm."

"Yup," he nodded, "the internet recalled this as causing one of the biggest traffic jams in history."

"The internet?" Nia asked, resting her head on her hand.

"Oh right," he hemmed to himself.

"Having trouble explaining it professor Hunter?" Nia teased.

"Well yeah," he took a hand off the steering wheel to rub his neck, "it was just something that everyone took for granted. I've never had to explain the interweb before. It's like a way to have the world connected. It's a thing that we used to communicate across the globe, exchanging ideas and information instantly." He reached over to the center storage and opened his backpack. He rummaged around for a second before pulling out a rectangular device and tossing it over his shoulder.

"Here, that's a smartphone, you'll be able to access the internet through that. There are still a couple of functioning satellites," he glanced up with an expression of almost awe, "don't know how we've managed to make them last that long but they have."

He refocused on the road ahead, adopting a somber expression, "you know, it's pretty incredible. Humans as a species have made some incredible advancements, in both physical and cultural ways. We've made strides to fix what we do wrong. That's what I don't understand about Malos and Torna in general. That's the thing. We try. We try to change, make sure that no day is the same as the last as we try to make improvements to our world and society."

"Hmph," Mythra remained unconvinced, "it doesn't matter how many fancy tricks humans learn, deep down they're all the same."

"Pessimistic I see. I don't entirely disagree with you but, I don't agree either. No two humans are alike. We're all unique in our own way. This technology may have wiped us out, but it was created to change the world," he sighed, placing his thumb on his temple. "We invented and innovated to make a better future for all of us, and if something needed fixing? We fixed it. That's why we lived under a system that allowed change, or rather, we used to. That's why we were in a rebellion. We wanted change, because we were living in an unjust world so we tried to make things better..."

He trailed off, lost in thought. Mythra looked down to her lap, processing everything that Brandon said.

"Look out!" Nia yelled as she jumped in her seat.

Brandon jerked the steering wheel, plowing them off the road and into a building off to the side. The airbags activated.

"Fuck," Brandon groaned as he grabbed his bag, flipping it onto his shoulder, and pried open the door.

"What the hell was that?"

Nia groaned, "that," she pointed.

"What. The. Fuck. Is that thing."

"I don't know but I'm going to burn it," Mythra pointed, blasting the creature with a ray of light.

Brandon squinted. His jaw dropped as the creature was disintegrated. He noticed a glint so he moved to the ashes and knelt down to inspect it.

"A… core crystal…" he suddenly turned to the side and started retching.

"Are you okay?" Nia ran up and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm… fine," he placed his hand over his mouth, "that… used to be human."

"What?"

"The immortality project… I knew it deteriorated the mind but… what the hell happened?"

"Brandon…"

He stood up and wrapped Nia up in a hug, tightly. He clenched his eyes shut, trying to erase the image from his mind.

"Let's just move," he said as his face slowly regained color, "I think the car's totalled so, we're going on foot… unless you want to wait another hour for us to find and fix another one up."

Mythra squinted, "well, it doesn't look like we're too far away now."

"So we should be able to cover the distance in a couple of hours," Brandon finished.

"Hours?"

The corner of Brandon's mouth lifted, "come on Nia, we've done far worse before. Don't tell me your endurance is giving out."

"There is no way it's that far away."

"Oh yeah it is. This is a large city and the elevator is a massive object," he glanced around nervously, "I just hope we don't run into more of these… things."

"Yeah, about that," Nia tapped his shoulder, "you know how our luck usually doesn't hold up?"

"Well shit. Mythra?"

"On it," she lifted her hands.

* * *

"Let's see…" Brandon surveyed the land around them on top of a half ruined skyscraper through a pair of salvaged binoculars, muttering to himself.

"Well?" Nia called up.

"I know where we are," he called back, "but there looks like something large over in the distance. It almost looks like a Titan."

Mythra gasped, "Torna."

"Torna?"

"The ancient Titan."

"What? But the mainland Titans are massive, aren't they?"

"The old Titan was… not in the best of shapes when it fell," Mythra said looking down with shame, "it had been blasted apart by both my light and Malos' darkness. I don't think it fell in one piece."

"Well that's a large chunk at least," he tossed the binoculars to her, "here, take a look yourself."

"That looks like it alright… wait."

"What what?"

"I see movement."

"What?" he walked over, "gimme those." He studied the figures, "those aren't those monsters… the way they walk is too regular and looks like it has a purpose… well, looks like we've found our friends. Let's hurry and get to them before they move on."

"Right."

Brandon walked over to the edge of the building and jumped, Nia quickly following behind.

"Wait what are you doing?"

"Hm?" Nia looked over her shoulder with amusement, "you know if he just jumped off there's obviously something to catch us."

"So you're just going to jump? You know he's got that jetpack thing right?"

"Sure but the thing is, I trust him."

"Ugh, he could have at least said something."

"Eh," she shrugged, "he may be an idiot," she grinned, "but he's my idiot."

Mythra grumbled but jumped with Nia.

"Took you two long enough," Brandon stood tapping his foot with impatience.

"It took that long to convince this idiot to jump."

Brandon stared for a second before he burst out laughing.

"What?" Mythra huffed in annoyance.

"Oh it's nothing," he said in between fits of giggles, "there's just an old parenting thing from Morytha, something like if your friends jumped off a bridge would you follow them?. It was meant to discourage you from doing something just because people you knew did but my answer was, and still is, always yes because everyone I knew were logical people, meaning that if they jumped, there would be a good reason for it."

"You know, you've got an interesting way of looking at the world."

"Well that's what makes it interesting, isn't it?" he smiled, "after all, I can only look at Nia's face so many times before getting bored."

"What?!" she smacked his arm, "why you-"

"I'm joking!" he laughed, "I could never get tired of you milady. You are extremely beautiful after all."

Nia blushed then whacked him again.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"Buckethead."

"What?"

She sighed, "you can be so hopeless sometimes."

He shot Mythra a pleading look who simply shrugged. "Your girl. Also Pyra wants you two to know that you make a cute couple."

* * *

"Shit," Brandon blinked rapidly as a drop of sweat rolled across his face and into his eye as he sprinted across the ruined city.

"Out of steam already?" Nia taunted.

"No," Brandon gasped for air, "just a really annoying thing with sweat."

"Mmhm."

"Gah yes! Fine! I admit it! My worst freaking enemy, endurance work!" His legs finally gave out and he had to stop and rest, letting himself brace his arms against his knees, despite knowing he should walk it off.

"Where the hell are they?" he muttered. A glint of metal caught his eye. "Over there!" he pointed as he started jogging.

"What the-? Jin!" Brandon yelled in rage and immediately charged forward with his fists raised.

"Stop!" Rex jumped in front of the white clad warrior.

"Wha?" Brandon, unable to stop his momentum, continued right through and slammed into Rex, knocking both of them over.

"Ow, what the hell Rex? He's our enemy!"

"No!" Rex scrambled to his feet and stepped in front of Jin again, "we're working together right now until we get out of this mess."

"Why?" he snarled, "after everything he's done to us? Just get rid of him, we can survive on our own."

"If it weren't for him, we'd be dead."

Brandon looked around with an eyebrow raised, "you, Poppi, and Brighid? Doubtful." He lifted his left 'arm.'

"This is what they do," he growled, "if I were any dumber _I'd_ be dead. Fuck morals, I'm going to kill this bastard."

"No!"

"What?"

"I said no!" Rex set his jaw. Brandon's eyes narrowed, refusing to depower the electricity on his gauntlets.

"Step aside," he warned.

"Or what?"

"Don't make me force you."

Mythra stepped to Rex's side and lifted her sword in a protective stance. Nia took Brandon's side, letting him wrap his hand around the handle right above hers.

"Friends!" Poppi jumped between the two pairs, "don't fight."

"Poppi is right," Brighid commented, "we must not fight amongst ourselves if we wish to get back to Alrest."

"So what? You're taking Rex's side here?"

"In this situation? Yes."

"You can't be serious," Brandon glared, "you want to let this fucker live? After everything he's done?"

Brighid glared, "I do not agree with keeping him alive," she clarified, "were Morag here, he would not have been given this second chance."

Jin suddenly grunted in pain and fell to a knee, then collapsed fully on the ground. Rex rushed to the Tornan's side. Brandon kept his look of contempt but decided not to say anything, instead choosing to stand back. "I'm so going to regret this," he grumbled. Mythra changed forms, glowing green, and raised a hand, scanning Jin.

"Huh?" she reverted back to Mythra, "his heart… it's human."

"Makes sense," Brandon nodded, "Torna seems to be all unique blades."

"Other than-"

"I know," Brandon interrupted, "but _she_ hasn't made an appearance in a little while."

Jin hacked and coughed back to life. He reached up and touched his core crystal. "What did you do to me?"

"Relax," Rex held up his hands placatingly, "you'll be fine."

"It's not a permanent fix," Mythra warned, "so be careful."

"... Mythra."

"You never returned to your core crystal… did you?"

Jin didn't respond.

"Why?" she suddenly raged, "after everything we went through together, why would you take his side?"

"You think you can handle it, but you can't."

"I have a good idea," she crossed her arms, "but it didn't lead me to the pit it led you. Hmph. Lora's in there, isn't she."

Jin's expression hardened.

Rex glanced at Brandon who hadn't taken his glare off of Jin. "We can't forgive you what you've done and we will stop you. But right now..."

"Naive kid," Jin scoffed as he gestured around them, "the land of Morytha, a place of more wickedness than you can imagine."

"This was my home," Brandon interjected, "this is where humanity flourished. We-"

"You destroyed yourselves. You blinded yourselves with your own hubris and destroyed your own society over your desire to surpass God."

"That is what defines a human!" he yelled, "our urge to grow, to progress, to understand more about our universe. That is what defines humans. It's because we're not perfect our world is unique. It's our strive for improvement that makes us human."

"Pah, you're all the same, back then and now. Strive to improve? An excuse to explain away humanity's mistakes."

"So what? Were we supposed to just sit around idly?"

"No," Jin glared, "Humanity itself was a mistake, a blight on the world that only consumes and destroys. Humanity will have caused its destruction regardless of how. You fought amongst yourselves to the point of extinction and even continued to near the end of humanity."

He growled, "how do you know that?"

"Malos' core has some interesting information on Morytha's history. Such as your involvement with creating a doomsday weapon."

"That wasn't-"

"Wasn't meant to be a weapon? And yet humanity turned it into one. A species that knows nothing but destruction and violence doesn't deserve to exist in this world. When humans are given choice, they so often choose wrong."

Brandon clenched and unclenched his fists, unable to come up with a response. Nia growled and yanked Brandon to the side. "One more word out of you and I'll make sure you won't be able to speak again."

"Nia calm down," Rex shot her a look. She growled at him but backed down as Brandon tugged her sleeve.

"You can't be serious about this," she hissed in his ear, "you're basically admitting he's right."

Brandon deflated, his self righteousness sucked out of him. "He kind of is. I don't have anything to say because we did destroy ourselves playing god."

"There's a difference between making progress and playing god. You were-"

"Who are you trying to convince. Me? Or yourself."

He walked away, head tilted down, following behind the others.

"This isn't the Brandon I fell for…"

* * *

The group walked in silence, save for the occasional cough by Jin and murmuring between different members.

"What's wrong with you?"

"There's nothing wrong with me."

"Oh right," she rolled her eyes, "there's absolutely nothing wrong. Sure."

He huffed, "what do you want me to say? Yes?"

"Sometimes! Yes!" She hugged him, "please."

His expression was one of someone who's heart just melted. "You're so cute."

"Oi, just talk to me you bloody idiot," she nudged him, "you've always seemed so sure of yourself."

"Uh…"

"Okay so not all the time," she giggled.

"What's so funny about that?"

"Oh nothing, nothing," she grinned, "there's my Brandon."

"Your Brandon huh?" He poked her side, "since when was I your property?"

"Since you decided to fall for me."

Brandon let a chuckle slip through, "guess I made a mistake then."

"Maybe, but it's one that you would have made no matter what."

"You've got me there," he started laughing and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, drawing the stare, and ire, of Jin. He smirked back in defiance, almost taunting that Nia was part of his family, and not Torna's.

He had just realized, realized the reason why Jin had been prodding him specifically, beyond insulting humans in general but attacking everything he had been trying.

You would have to be absolutely blind to be unable to see the relationship between him and Nia. He had taken her from Torna, the most powerful healing blade in all of Alrest, a flesh eater who had been wronged by humans through her entire life, over and over again. But she chose _him,_ a human, over Torna, a group made of those who were the same as her and was working toward revenge.

And to add salt to the injury, she fell in love with him. She had fallen in love with a human who had helped to cause the end of the world. Another human who had tried to surpass god. And yet she had chosen him and a ragtag group of humans and blades in service to them to be her family.

There was nothing he hated more than humans and their greed but Nia had forgiven humanity so easily, possessing strength that he didn't. Because he didn't have the strength to get over Lora, or at least what he could piece together.

Despite his conviction, he was working off of flawed logic, just like a human, blaming everyone while being unable to move on, even after five hundred years.

He talked big without anything to back him up. Brandon laughed. "You know, you're the absolute best."

"Oh I know," Nia smiled back.

"Heh," Brandon punched her shoulder lightly, "so arrogant. I feel like I should fix that."

"Hmm, nah."

Brandon planted a kiss on her head, "I love you."

"I know," she grinned, pulling him into a kiss. Brandon only pulled in Nia deeper as he heard Jin scoff ahead.

He finally broke off when he needed to take a gasp of air.

"You're getting better," Nia laughed, teasing the inventor.

"Well you've certainly been giving me a workout."

"Ugh, you two are so gross!" Rex called.

"Ha!" Brandon cupped his hands, "you just wish you could do that with Pyra!"

Both Rex and Mythra went red and started yelling denials.

"They make it so easy," Brandon chuckled.

"You're so evil sometimes."

"Heh, I just like teasing my little brother. Is that so bad?"

"We've got company."

Brandon looked up from Nia. "Damn it, more of those monsters."

"Eh," Nia shrugged, "doesn't look like too many of them. Mythra can probably just burn them to a crisp again."

"You had to say something," Brandon sighed as more slowly stumbled their way toward the party. "How the hell are they in this concentration? Only the rich and powerful had access to core crystals. Ugh," he activated the electricity in his gauntlets.

He lifted his hand and blasted the creatures, burning through the zombie like creatures. Mythra doing the same. Jin flickered forward, slicing apart the remaining monsters.

"What's up with these things?" Rex asked, "these are nothing like Alrest."

"These things would be failed versions of Zeke I guess," Brandon said, mostly to himself in thought, "failed Blade Eaters. Huh, I guess the core crystal project was a success now that I think about it, infinite life."

"Just another example of humanity's-"

"Shut up," Brandon said, "you don't know what humans have done, what we've been through. The memories of humankind… You don't understand how much we've laughed and cried."

He planted his feet, "you don't have the right to look down on humanity when you have worse issues yourself. Fix them, or I won't tolerate you badmouthing my people… Jin."

….

 **What I was thinking about when having Brandon define what humans are was the ending scene in The Giver. I know that many people had issues with the movie but the ending was absolutely brilliant. It honestly is what humans really are.**

 **Yes I also made it so that Brandon's self confidence crumbles. My view is that he's never really dealt with getting something truly wrong before. He was so sure of progress the moment Jin made a comment that Brandon had no response to he just kinda died, emotionally of course.**

 **And yes Nia cures it pretty quickly but that was almost indirectly, more of helping Brandon realize rather than fixing it directly.**


	26. Chapter 25: World Tree

**F in chat for my free time. Sorry about the late update. College has started so my rip my free time while trying to juggle academics and Starcraft for the eSports team. This is going to go on the backburner until I can get my schedule and time figured out. I'll try to get more updates and stuff in.**

 **Discord: discordapp invite / sq2J4HH**

 **P a treon: www . p a treon SparkleHands**

 **Twitch: www . twitch . tv / sparklehandss**

 **Delete the spaces because fanfiction doesn't like links.**

 **ALSO HOLY SHIT XENOBLADE CHRONICLES REMAKE!**

… **.**

"What?"

"You heard me," Brandon sneered, "get off your high horse. You have just as many flaws as the human race. You think you're morally pure? Please. There's no such thing as perfect logic or reasoning. Everyone has the human touch of emotion and bias. Even you."

He limped forward, still unused to relying solely on the armor, "no one is free from this. Not you, not Malos, not the rest of Torna."

"I'm not perfect either," he grinned and grabbed Nia's hand, "that's why I have her. Where's your support?" He taunted.

Jin glared. "She's dead."

"Right," Brandon coughed, feeling like an ass before realizing he was talking to a mass murderer, "well uh…" he sighed. He gave Jin a look.

"You know what would happen, what I would do, if Nia died suddenly?" Brandon finally said, "I love her more than anything, you probably realized this a while ago." He let out a long breath, "I won't lie, even imagining that really hurts. But I also understand that nothing is forever. If you can't move on, what does that makes you really?"

He ruffled Nia's hair who growled in annoyance, "I know from experience that you can't change a heart or a soul in an afternoon, especially not with words. They'd have to be really damn powerful for that and I don't have that kind of speaking ability. But it's food for thought, no?"

He tipped an invisible hat and strode away, arm in arm with Nia.

"There we go," Nia poked the side of his head, "where was that like an hour ago?"

"Well you didn't help me back then."

"Help you?" she tilted her head, "I know I may have said some inspirational stuff but I didn't think I did that much."

"Well," Brandon laughed, "you're my muse. You help me just by existing."

"Sweet talker."

"I do my best."

"Well your best got you this far," she whispered in his ear, "keep going."

"Mmh," Brandon shrugged, "should I?"

"Why not?"

"Depends on what you're going to do to me," Brandon grinned, "you'd better not be secretly a sadist. Don't want to imagine what your claws would feel like in my chest."

"Eww! Get that image out of your head… I want to get it out of my head," she groaned, "you're the worst."

"I like how one sentence can get me from being the best to being the worst in a second."

"One sentence is all it takes," Nia teased.

"Is that so?" He poked her side slightly harder. She yelped and jumped slightly, glaring at him.

"Really?" She rubbed her side, "okay so _now_ you're the worst."

They shared a laugh. "How far have we come?"

Nia shrugged, "I think the question is how far do we have left to go?"

"A long way," Brandon responded, his voice seemingly sagging slightly considering the daunting task laid out ahead of them. Over a hundred kilometers up. He just prayed that at least some of the elevators still worked or he had a long fixing spree ahead of him.

"A long way," Brandon smiled, "not just to Elysium, but probably beyond too. To many long years together."

"And may we never be separated."

Brandon tilted his head slightly, "even after death."

She punched his shoulder, "you had to remind me."

Brandon smiled ruefully.

"I hate you," she leaned on the inventor, "but honestly, I'd rather it be this than being reborn under someone else later on."

"Nothing lasts forever," Brandon nudged her, "but we can make what we've got count."

"Yeah, for sure," she sighed, "wonder how long we can stay like this for?"

"As long as you like," he said, "or until we have to actually go and do something."

"I hope that's not any time soon."

Brandon put a hand around her shoulder, "agreed."

"You just want to cuddle up with me," Nia giggled.

"Not denying it," he pulled her in tighter, "but you probably want to with me, no?"

"Not going to deny it either," she leaned into him. "Ah, I'm so glad that you're kinda chubby."

"Hey…" Brandon grumbled, "I'm not that fat."

"I never said you were. Besides, it's not like being fat stops you from being strong."

"Okay that was my tech-"

"Not what I'm talking about."

"Then wha-"

"I mean," she nudged him with her head, "you may be kind of physically strong sure."

"Not really-"

"But," she clicked her tongue, "it's your mental fortitude that is what got me."

"Hah, yeah right."

"Bloody idiot," Nia hugged him, "take a compliment would you? I swear you're such a downer."

"Heh, sorry."

She flicked his forehead, "I thought you were done with the self depreciation stuff."

"Yeah yeah," he mumbled with an eye roll, "love you."

"I love you too."

* * *

There it was, the towering space elevator. One of the pinnacles of human technology and scientific growth. Thousands of years of development leading up to this: the destruction of humanity after the biggest technological advancements.

"Hey," Nia nudged him, "you okay? You've been staring at the thing for a while now."

"I'm fine," he grinned at her, "thanks. Well then, ladies first."

"... Uh, how do I get in?"

"Just walk up to the door and... push?"

Nia flushed, "r-right." She cleared her throat in embarrassment.

"What? Were you expecting some kind of high tech thing?"

"Yes!" Nia said, still red in the face.

Brandon burst out laughing.

"O-oi! You're so mean."

"I wouldn't be laughing if I didn't love you."

"Oh," Nia scoffed, "so does your undying love suddenly give you the right to make fun of me."

"It's affectionate teasing-"

"Okay okay!" Rex yelled, "can we get a move on?"

"What? Does romance make you uncomfortable?"

"No...?" Rex said unconvincingly, "but the look on Jin's face does."

Nia flinched and opened the door. She turned around, then the smile on her face dropped. "The Monoceros!"

Brandon grit his teeth, "I am painfully aware," he shot the warrior in white a look. "Here for you I presume?"

"Don't attack," Jin seemed to mutter.

What? Don't… attack?

The cannon of the Monoceros rose out of the top.

Jin growled, "I told you not to attack!" A shockwave emanated from Jin, shaking the surroundings.

A moment passed before a rope ladder was tossed from the deck. Jin grabbed it without hesitation and started climbing. He reached the top and hesitated.

"Brighid!" he called without turning around, "you're still the same as you used to be."

"That bastard," Brandon grumbled, "damn it, now they have the advantage as well! We need to hurry!" He started sprinting toward the gates of the World Tree.

"Wait!" Nia exclaimed as the Monoceros' engines rumbled, taking it back into the sky, "what about the others?"

"We can find them later!" Brandon turned around impatiently, "we're all heading for the World Tree anyways so we'll run into them later at some point!"

"Ugh, fine!" She ran after him, the rest of the group following behind.

Brandon, in his haste, smashed through the old glass doors rather than actually opening them. Nia rolled her eyes with a sigh and healed the scrapes and scratches covering his face from the glass shards.

"Bloody idiot."

"Sorry," Brandon chuckled sheepishly. "I-"

A roar echoed through the lobby, cutting Brandon off.

"That… sounded different."

"No kidding…" Nia pointed as a massive Blade Eater emerged from the shadows.

"Oh shit," Brandon muttered, "everyone! Move!"

Everyone sprang in different directions to avoid the massive paw of the beast.

Nia went on the attack but even her enhanced chakrams couldn't penetrate its armor. "How are we supposed to fight that thing?" Nia yelled.

Brandon opened his mouth to respond when a bolt of electricity blasted the creature.

"Zeke!"

"There's always a bigger fish huh?" Zeke commented as he hopped down from a railing.

"Where the hell did you come from?" he asked as they stood side by side.

"Well…" Zeke said, "we started climbing the thing from the outside but we found some kind of hatch on the side."

Despite the situation, Brandon started laughing.

"Sorry," he wiped a tear away, "I'm going to make fun of you for that later. Everyone! If we hit it altogether we should have the firepower to take it down! Ready on my mark! Ready… Mark!"

Blue and white energy streaked across the room, ionizing the air around the beams, and struck the Blade Eater, creating an explosion of heat and light and blew a chunk out of its back.

"Yeah!" Zeke cried boisterously.

"I think you're celebrating too soon," Brandon warned. Almost as if hearing him, the creature reared back and roared. "Damn it! One more time! Attack!"

They fired again, this time managing to disintegrate the beast completely.

"God these things are so annoying," Brandon groaned as he finally relaxed, deactivating and retracting his armor save for a leg and an arm. He scratched idly at the metal bars criss crossing over his chest. "I hate the fact that they're human."

Nia hugged him. "We'll be okay."

Brandon looked down and grinned. He placed a hand between her ears and ruffled her hair, "I know." He looked around, "everyone's here now right? Good. Let's go." He started toward the main elevator.

"Mmh," Nia grasped his hand and followed. She spared a second to glance behind her.

"Hey!" she waved, "Rex, old man! What are you doing? Come on!"

"Old man?!"

Brandon started laughing at the sheer indignation in Gramps' voice, "Don't deny it Gramps!"

"I'll have you know that I am quite young for a titan!" He huffed as Rex jogged to catch up.

"Don't know why this is distressing to you," Brandon continued laughing, "we call you Gramps all the time."

"Well yes but you children are also under my care," he gave Nia a dry look, "even if you are Brandon's partner, I refuse to tolerate that."

Brandon continued laughing the whole way.

* * *

"Damn!" Brandon slammed a fist onto the table the main computer was built into, "of course it couldn't have been this easy-" he felt a hand on his shoulder. He sighed.

"Thing doesn't work. Figures given how delicate this was. We're going to have to climb this the old fashioned way."

"Why don't we slow down," Nia suggested, "I think I saw some kind of storehouse back there."

"But-"

Nia tapped her knuckles to the side of his head. "I think you have too much control over me."

"I do seem to have that effect on you," she smiled. "If it upsets you that much just think about it. They've got the Monoceros, we've got our legs. They're going to reach the top before we can. For someone so smart you seem to lack in common sense sometimes."

"And you're one to talk?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact."

"Hm," Brandon tapped his chin, "maybe we should check that ego."

Nia punched his gut.

"Ow!" He half laughed half coughed.

"Hmph. What ego?"

"No ego," he wheezed.

"Good."

"You're insufferable."

"And you love me for it."

Brandon groaned, "I guess I do."

Her ears twitched in amusement. Brandon noticed so he reached up to rub them. Nia clucked her tongue, "no touching."

"Aw, but why?" he whined.

"We're not out of the woods yet," Nia nudged him, "figure out how to move forward now and cuddle later."

"Weren't you the one saying to slow down?"

"Yeah," she gave him a look, "to plan."

"Oh."

"What? Did you really think I meant relax like nothing was wrong right now?"

Brandon coughed as he stood up.

"I'll take that as a yes," Nia sighed, "I swear."

"You suck."

"Consider it payback," she stuck her tongue out.

"Whatever… come on."

"What?" Nia poked him as they left, "you can tease me but I can't tease you? How is that fair?"

"Yes that's precisely it," Brandon smiled to show that he was joking, "obviously the one with more wit is the one who has to suffer through someone else's."

"Oh so is that how it is?"

"Obviously," Brandon put a hand on her head, "if I let you get in a word edgewise I won't have any comeback."

"You're such an idiot."

"Your-"

"I swear to the Architect if you say your idiot," Nia smacked her forehead, "you are my idiot but I would like it if the one I chose isn't an idiot."

"So having an idiot isn't endearing? Like, at all?"

Nia snorted, "I admit it is," she sighed, "all I'm asking is that you don't stay a sappy idiot all the time."

She coughed.

"You okay?" Brandon patted her back.

"Yeah," she cleared her throat, "I think I just inhaled some spit."

"Who's the idiot now?"

"Oi."

She coughed again.

"Any luck?" Rex asked as Brandon and Nia stepped out of the control room.

Brandon frowned and shook his head no.

"Get ready to climb a lot of stairs."

* * *

"Pause please!" Brandon wheezed, both hands on his knees as he keeled over, "ugh, I feel like I'm going to vomit."

"How… Many… Floors… Was… That?" Even Rex was gasping at how far they had traveled.

Nia started hacking and coughing.

"Whoa whoa," Brandon, momentarily forgetting his own exhaustion, "are you okay?"

"Fine," she swayed.

Brandon pulled his lips tight, "I think we need to take a break."

Rex looked over in concern, "agreed."

"Alright guys, you know the drill, don't wander off too far but feel free to explore a little."

Everyone nodded their confirmations and headed off, each with their own respective partner.

Brandon held Nia, helping her sit down. He put a hand on her forehead. "Oh god! You're burning up!"

"I'm fine!" she rasped then cleared her throat, "I'm fine," she repeated firmly.

"You're not fine," Brandon looked over her with worry, "why are you being so stubborn?"

Nia opened her mouth then promptly closed it. "I didn't want to worry you," she said softly.

"Well I'm worried now!" Brandon shook her lightly, "You were the one telling me to not act as if no one cares!"

"Different situation," she sniffled, "this isn't potentially deadly."

"But it can be," Brandon complained, "it could be something like the plague."

Nia rolled her eyes, "healing blade remember? It's just a cold," she scoffed, "I can't do anything about it because it's not a physical wound. It's the most frustrating thing, I know exactly what's wrong with me but I can't do anything but keep some symptoms down, and keep myself alive by regenerating cells as soon as they die. Plus we don't exactly have unlimited time. If we can't make it in time who knows what'll happen."

"I don't care what happens," Brandon snapped then squeezed his eyes shut when Nia flinched. He felt like an ass as he recalled what had happened to her sister, "I just don't want to see you get hurt."

"And why's-"

"Please don't joke right now," Brandon begged then sighed, pulling her into a hug, "If you need to know, I can't live without you," he admitted, "if I lost you so soon after finding you… to something this trivial… I don't know what I would do."

"Weren't you the one preaching that nothing's forever and you have to accept that?" Nia asked, somehow sounding both sarcastic and playful at the same time.

"Yes," Brandon extended his arms, "but I was more thinking about age or combat. If you die from-"

"Okay," Nia put up a finger, "I'll stop you there. Like I said I won't die from this. Again, I can regenerate any cells that are destroyed by bacteria. I just can't actually kill them without waiting for my body to do it naturally."

"Your healing seems to be limited," Brandon snarked.

"Really?" Nia gave him a flat stare, "I don't seem to recall you saying that when it saved your life."

"That's when it was healing a… physical wound."

"And this is the best I can do with a cold," Nia poked him, "I can't really help it."

Brandon grunted, "I just wish I could do more." Brandon pressed his forehead to Nia's, his eyes closed and his voice sombre.

"I know," she put a hand up to his cheek, "you're great."

"Heh, thanks," Brandon tapped her nose. Nia twitched her ears with content. Brandon smiled and rubbed her ears.

"Not complaining about having your ears scratched now huh?" Brandon smiled, his hands sinking into her soft fur.

"I never complained about it," she warbled, "I just said that wasn't the time."

"And now is?"

"Yes," she said as a shiver went up her spine, "definitely."

Brandon withdrew his hand, Nia's head following his hand as he pulled back. She started whining then Brandon pulled her into a hug, silencing anything further. He squeezed her tightly and swayed slightly, his mouth on top of her head as he hummed softly.

"Love you."

Nia blushed. Hard. "Love you too."

Brandon smiled, "what am I going to do with you?"

"Whatever do you mean?" she rolled her eyes.

He rested his chin on her head. She rotated her head so that she was looking up to his face. She grumbled in slight irritation at Brandon's chin digging into her head while Brandon just chuckled away at her dismay.

"Hey," he said, "that one's on you for moving your head."

"Mmh," she grumbled as she rubbed her head, "that little bit of stubble you have is annoying."

Brandon started laughing uproariously, "sorry I couldn't shave for you."

"You suck."

"Sah lang hae yo," he replied in a singsong voice.

"Huh?"

"Oh right sorry," Brandon tilted his head slightly, "it's Korean for I love you."

"Korean?" she asked.

"Ah, it's a language from… Morytha. An alternative to English but a less commonly used one."

Her eyes sparkled, "teach me?"

"Huh? Sure but why?"

"So I can snark at Rex without letting him understand me."

Brandon laughed, "I didn't even think of doing that before!" he hugged her tightly, "you're an absolute genius."

"I know," Nia grinned.

"Ego?"

"Of course not."

"Of course not," Brandon repeated, "you're far to humble for that."

"You two are so cute together."

"Wait…" Brandon turned around, "weren't you just Mythra?"

"Huh? Well Rex asked about me so I changed," Pyra responded.

"Then where's Rex?"

"Well he said he wanted to look around a little more…"

Brandon laughed, "you were just getting tired of him clinging to you weren't you?"

Pyra didn't respond.

"Thought so," he shot her a wink, "kid means well but he can sure grate on your nerves sometimes huh? How'd you get away from him anyways?"

"Distracted him with Zeke."

"Of course," he waved a hand, "actually ingenious." He paused, "wait how? You didn't send them to explore on their own did you?"

"I… did?" she replied hesitantly, "is that a problem."

"I don't know actually," Brandon replied truthfully, "it depends on whether they went into a restricted zone and whether the automated security is still operational."

"Well, we did find a working elevator. I think they wanted to take it up a level so I just kinda slid out then."

"What?" Brandon exclaimed, "shit, that's bad. If the main elevator isn't working but the smaller ones are then the defenses are probably still operational. We need to find the others and regroup. Fast."

An alarm started blaring.

"Shit," Brandon cursed as he stood up and activated his armor, Nia whining lightly as she slid off of him, "too late."

He readied himself for the incoming tidal wave of machines and point defense drones. Nia, looking at his face, grimaced in an expression almost identical to the one Brandon wore. She stood up to stand at his side.

"What are we looking at here?" She asked as she summoned her sword then tossed it, passing it along to Brandon while she took out the weapons he had designed for her. Pyra tensed up behind them.

Brandon started walking at a cautious pace, "some security 'droids," he responded, "capable of deconstructing us on a molecular level."

"That sounds… terrifying."

"I mean," Brandon cracked a grin, "that's what would happen if it hits us with a laser or plasma bolt."

"Oh you dolt!" Nia elbowed him, refusing to wince even as her elbow clanged against his armor, "you made me think that they were fighting with Malos' power."

Brandon had a quick laugh, "it's nowhere near that serious… but be careful. Just because it's not as powerful doesn't mean it's not as dangerous."

"Right, obviously."

He paused as he made out the faint sound of feet pounding on steel.

"You ready?" He held out a hand.

She took it. "Always."

….

 **Again, college has started up so expect much less frequent updates until I figure my life out… which might take a while. Unless of course I can actually get some money, then I can actually put out more updates.**


	27. Chapter 26: Old Technology

Chapter 26: Old Technology

 **Fuck I am not doing well in Starcraft right now. F.**

 **Hey YohanFushi, make sure you sleep man, the story isn't going anywhere and I promised not to give up on this, or anything else I do. If you really want you can join my discord and get access to the google doc the entire thing is on.**

 **Sorry about the late chapter but college has been slowly killing me. I want to sleep. :( Plus I hit a large writers block for some reason on this chapter then I was like, it's a frickin romance story between Brandon and Nia, let's make it a romance story about them. I also like the way I wrote them still being nonchalant in battle and even still bantering while something is trying to kill them. Shows just how in tune they are (and maybe a bit of arrogance.)**

 **Discord: discordapp invite / sq2J4HH**

 **P a treon: www . p a treon . c om SparkleHands**

 **Also for the donation thing, I'm not expecting anything but if even 1 person were to donate I would actually start writing a hell of a lot more because then I know it's good enough for people to support.**

 **Twitch: www . twitch . tv / sparklehandss**

 **Delete the spaces because fanfiction doesn't like links and apparently you can't put c om up as a word. It also doesn't like the word p a treon**

… **.**

Brandon drove an armored fist through the sensor of the security machine in front of him. He fumbled around quickly and grabbed a cluster of wires and tore them out back through the hole that he made.

"Gah!" he cried in pain as a laser bolt struck his shoulder, burning through his armor and the flesh of his right shoulder. He instinctively brought a hand up to clenched the wound in an attempt to drown out the pain despite the area around the burn being covered in inflexible metal.

"Be more careful," Nia snapped at him as she raised a hand, sending out a pulse of water that washed over the entire party and healing every wound, no matter how minor.

Brandon smiled, "thanks, Nia."

"You're an idiot," she rolled her eyes as she refracted a bolt through her water.

Brandon grunted in response as he used Nia's blade to slice another bot in half.

"Your idiot."

"Architect damn it!" she cuffed his shoulder, "you don't get to spout off these cheesy lines."

"Hey, I thought you were okay with them…"

"Not in the middle of combat buckethead," she sighed before raising her weapons again, "here comes more stragglers."

" Argh just how many of these things are there?" she growled in irritation as she sliced through another robot's optic sensors, "they're not even that strong, just so annoying."

Brandon shrugged, "I don't know. I just know they had a very tight security system over the largest man made structure in the world. And as for the whole 'weak' thing. Pretty sure that they weren't expecting, what's the right word? I guess super humans as intruders." He pointed to himself, "or a super soldier, technically. Plus there would normally be human troops along side the automated defenses."

He dodged a blast of plasma and grabbed the offending drone, sending an electric current through it and short circuiting its motherboard.

"But yeah this is getting tiresome," he said as he blasted another robot with an arc of pressurized water, slicing it cleanly into two pieces.

"You're telling me," Nia said as she quickly dispatched the last robot.

"Well," he panted as he rested his hands on his knees, "at least it's not a total waste. There are some labs here and I can salvage some spare parts."

"Of course you're thinking about getting tech now," Nia smacked her forehead, "what about looking for the others?"

"They'll be fine," Brandon shrugged, "I got them all smart devices and explained how they worked with the map of the World Tree. We'll meet them along the way. Searching for them isn't going to accomplish anything in a facility this large."

"You're right, you're right," Nia slowly calmed down, even her breathing coming out ragged as the past hour of pushing through the near unending stream of robots had nearly pushed the pair to the breaking point. She leaned against the metallic wall, sliding down and landing heavily.

Brandon copied her motions.

She nudged him, "do you know how much progress we've made so far?"

Brandon checked. "Not much," he frowned, "but I can only hope that Torna faces similar trouble later on. I'm pretty sure the security up at the actual station operates independently from the superstructure."

"Think it'll actually slow them down?"

"If it's slowing us down then yes."

"Don't they have-?"

"Yes," Brandon said quickly, "but she also didn't have access to the station itself. She never had the authority to issue orders to the security system as a covert ops soldier."

"I guess so," Nia still looked worried even with his reassurance.

Brandon sighed as he stood up. He offered his hand to Nia, who immediately took it without hesitation. He pulled her up to her feet.

"Come on," he gestured, "let's see if we can't find a working elevator."

"Right," she said, "lead the way."

* * *

Brandon poked his head out into the intersection of hallways.

"Anything?" Nia asked, her back pressed up to the wall and her side pressed into him.

"No movement," he reported then slowly inched his way out of cover. "Alright," he said when nothing sprang out at him, "I think we're good."

Nia tentatively poked her head out. Brandon smirked, "what was that about trusting me?"

"Oh I do trust you," she smacked his arm, "but even you're not certain on this place's security layout."

Brandon opened his mouth but had no response. Instead he simply chose to gesture to the empty corridor, "after you, milady."

"Courteous as ever I see," she teased.

"Of course milady," he responded, "nothing but the best for you."

"Then where can I get myself the best boyfriend?" She asked as she grabbed his hand.

"Right here," he squeezed it.

"Why do I keep on falling for your sappy lines?" she asked, the annoyance lining her voice completely subverted by the massive grin slapped across her face.

"I don't know milady," Brandon grinned back, "maybe you don't hate the cheese as much as you say you do."

"Get that ridiculous notion out of your head," she scoffed, "me? Not hating the cheesy lines? Get out."

Brandon laughed, "I would if we weren't several hundred stories in the air."

"Right," Nia slapped her forehead in mock distress, "why didn't I think of that? Oh wait," she rolled her eyes, "you're not supposed to take everything literally buckethead."

He held up his hands in surrender, "you got me there princess."

Nia punched his gut, hard.

"OW!" he hacked as he stumbled back, "what was that for?"

"Really?" she crossed her arms, "if you can't tell then you're an idiot."

"Does being called princess really offend you that much?" he wheezed, still clutching at his stomach.

"Yes," she stated simply.

"Alright I got it," Brandon leaned an arm against the wall above his head, "message received milady."

"Better," she linked her arm through Brandon's as he recovered.

"You're so mean sometimes," he whined, making a halfhearted attempt at breaking free.

Nia just held onto his arm tighter, "I know," she said, "but at least I'm interesting."

Brandon laughed despite himself, "what, are you comparing yourself to Pyra?"

Nia paused, then went beet red, "didn't mean that," she planted her face on his shoulder, "don't compare me to her. I'm nothing compared to her…"

"What?" Brandon pulled her off of him, "what are you saying?"

Nia looked away, "it's just that… now that we've got her back I just can't seem to match her in any way. She's just so much better than me…"

"I don't care about any of that," Brandon hugged her tightly, "you're perfect to me, flaws and all."

"But she's perfect in every way," Nia mumbled into his chest, "perfect personality, perfect looks, perfect blade… perfect bod…"

Brandon started chuckling, which slowly transitioned into a raucous roar. "You're insecure about your body?"

Nia seemed to go redder and her cheeks puffed out. "Maybe I am."

"Pyra's got her flaws as well," Brandon reassured, "her biggest one being Mythra," he mumbled out of the side of his mouth, "but it's not like I'm suddenly going to leave you for her. Not when I've already fallen for you."

Nia seemed to melt in his arms. Brandon kissed the top of her head, "we'll always be together."

"I love you."

Brandon gave her one last squeeze before slowly releasing her from his embrace, his arms trailing along hers, "I love you too."

"Huh," Nia hiccuped as she tried to shut off the flow of tears, "turning the tables on me? I thought I was the one who had to reassure you."

"I have my moments."

"Which you seem to pick and choose very infrequently."

"Yeah well," he shrugged, "can't make it happen all the time. Unlike you I don't have an unlimited supply of wit."

"Ha," Nia scoffed, "I don't either, I just make sure to use mine efficiently."

"Cheeky aren't you?" Brandon smirked.

"I have to be around you," she smiled back.

"Jerk," he swung at her shoulder playfully.

She easily dodged out of the way, laughing all the while, "can't take the banter huh?"

"With you as my opponent?" he shook his head, "not in a million years."

"Flatterer."

"I try milady," he bowed, "I need to keep your self esteem up somehow."

"Ha! My self esteem?" she poked him, "what about yours? You were the one doubting yourself for most of this journey."

"Wow, jee, thanks," he sighed, "my girlfriend doesn't try to help out her self-doubting boyfriend."

"And I won't if the boyfriend refers to himself in the third person again."

"Wow, cold," he joked, "I thought you were supposed to love me unconditionally."

"Well yes but no."

"Ah," Brandon clutched at his chest as if he had been shot, "so mean!"

"There'll be plenty of time for cuddling and flirting later," she rolled her eyes, "let's just get moving."

"Understood milady," he held out a hand which she took and the two walked off further into the unknown.

* * *

"Really?" Nia groaned, "you're going looting again?"

"Hey," he said defensively, "these are premium grade parts! I'm not throwing away this opportunity to get upgrades to everything."

"But everything you've got looks good," Nia pointed out, "functionally and aesthetically."

"They're far from perfect," Brandon said, still digging through an old computer, "if I can get good quality parts rather than the rusting metal from Alrest, I'm totally taking it."

"Yeah but now?"

"Yes now," Brandon said matter of factly, "if we can get any kind of edge in the upcoming battle, I'm going to go for it."

"How much more can you even realistically improve your gear?" She crossed her arms impatiently.

"Infinitely," was Brandon's response, "everything can be improved upon. If I can even reduce the resistance in the wiring by a little bit I could increase the power output tenfold."

"Ugh, all of your science mumbo jumbo."

"Ugh, all of your medical mumbo jumbo," he shot back, clearly getting slightly annoyed, "how are you even managing to keep up the snarky attitude with a cold?"

"Dealing with you every day helps."

"So mean!" he said, wiping away a fake tear.

"Oh come on, that wasn't even that bad."

"That cold is definitely making you snarkier," he banged his head on the main chassis as he pulled his head out, "ow."

Nia rolled her eyes but smiled as she kneeled down and rubbed his head, "you okay?"

"Just fine," he grumbled as Nia giggled at him.

"Do I need to be your mother as well?"

Brandon cringed, "ugh. I think Pyra's enough for that."

"Sometimes I doubt that," Nia helped Brandon to his feet.

"Mmh, when are you going to stop making fun of me?"

"When we're finally out of this mess," she stuck her tongue out at him.

"You know what?" he shrugged, "fair enough."

"That's what I thought. Now, go on and finish your looting."

He chuckled, "yes ma'am."

"Wait," Nia palmed her forehead, "you're going to make me help with this later aren't you?"

"Maybe?" he squeaked unconvincingly.

She sighed, "I suppose it's my fault for wanting to learn about this. Ugh."

"Yeah well now you're going to have to bear through it," he said with amusement, "looks like you're going back to school."

Nia shuddered, "please no. School makes anything fun terrible."

"Not always," Brandon countered, "you can learn some interesting things in school."

Nia pulled a face, "I'd rather be dumb."

"Ever the pessimist huh?"

"Well someone has to check Rex and it sure as hell isn't gonna be Pyra," Nia joked.

"Well I… I suppose that's not wrong," Brandon conceded, "but we don't need cynicism to foil Rex's optimism. I personally like the boundless optimism."

"I personally don't like the boundless naivety," Nia countered.

"And I thought I was cynical," Brandon said as he finished packing everything he needed away and stood up, "haven't I restored your faith in the world?"

"I'm not going to deny that," she admitted as the two slowly padded along, "and I do really love you for it. But I just… there are still people like Torna. They still think that they're the saviors of the world or something while doing terrible things."

"There are going to be terrible people wherever you go," Brandon sighed, "you can't assume that everyone is going to be a perfect angle… but that's what makes the world interesting. What we choose to do with our lives, whether it's good or bad and what we do to make things better."

Nia chuckled, "you must be tired of giving me these inspirational speeches huh?"

"Not in the slightest," Brandon smiled back, "I love doing this for you."

"What? Saving me?"

"From your depression yes."

"I don't have depression."

Brandon shrugged, "closest description I've got."

"How is that the closest description?" she asked, a touch of irritation in her voice.

"How else do I put it?" Brandon asked, "crippling depression?"

Nia groaned, "you're just doing that to annoy me at this point, aren't you?"

"Yeah," he laughed as he raised his hands placatingly, "you got me there. But that's also not entirely false. You just seem to lack any real meaning in this world."

"I've got you, haven't I?"

"Yes," Brandon nodded, "but is that enough?"

"It is for me."

"But it shouldn't be," Brandon argued, "you need something else."

"All I need are my snuggles with you."

"Okay," Brandon laughed, "as flattering as that is, I don't think that's sustenance enough."

"I don't know what you mean," she sniffed, "that's more than enough for me."

Brandon gave her a skeptical look, "you seem to be all for the cheese right now.".

"I've got healing as well," she said, ignoring the jab, "doesn't that count? I've got a passion for it."

"What? Are you going to go and open up a doctor's office once this is over with?"

Nia seemed to give it genuine thought, "maybe I will."

"Are you really?" he asked.

"I mean, what else am I going to do?" her eyebrows knit in thought, "I mean, we can't exactly spend our lives cuddling."

"As much as I wish we could," Brandon muttered.

"Yeah well," she shrugged, "we can't have everything. Besides, you want to do stuff with space and technology right?"

"True true," he waved a hand, "I guess we've got our own dreams huh?"

"As long as our paths meet," she leaned onto him, "I'm okay with it."

Brandon put an arm around her shoulder, "yeah. Me too."

Nia closed her eyes and let out a soft breath before reopening them, a new determined glint in her eyes, "let's finish this thing, once and for all."

* * *

"How many of these things are there?" Nia said frustratedly as more of a rhetorical question than anything else.

Brandon simply shrugged as a response as he sat down onto a chair, his heavy armor retracting, with a heavy breath.

"We can't keep on going like this," Nia pointed out as she decided to collapse into Brandon's lap, sighing contently as she felt Brandon's arms instinctively wrap around her, "we're both exhausted from both climbing and fighting and while I can heal physical wounds, I can't do it forever, nor can I restore energy."

"Which I am aware of," Brandon pointed out, "but if we take too long to rest, Torna might already be done with their mission."

"Which _I_ am aware of," she said, "but we're pushing our limits."

"Tell you what, we'll rest for as long as we want after this is over."

"Which is?"

"I don't know," Brandon said, "it's not like I can see the future, but we're at least here in the World Tree."

Nia chuckled, "now I'm remembering when we first met."

"Yeah, that was something, wasn't it?" Brandon laughed along, "back then I never would have imagined all of this happening."

"Or us."

"Or us," he nodded.

"Thought you were a weirdo at first," Nia smiled, taking away any malice.

"And I thought you were an arrogant prick," Brandon shrugged, "and now we're together."

"Amazing how fate plays out."

"And fucks with our lives."

"That too," she laughed, "but that's a good thing sometimes. Even if we didn't like each other at first, look where we are now."

"Well I guess I showed you the way."

"You certainly did," she snuggled up closer, "you're the light at the end of my path, cutting through the mist."

"Poetic," he teased.

"I'll write you a song," she laughed, "I'll call it Drifting Souls."

"Brilliant," Brandon said, "very literal."

"I try," she bowed her head as Brandon offered a soft applause.

She giggled as Brandon hugged her tightly, "you seem eager."

"Okay, if you're feeling something, you should probably take that as a compliment."

"Dirty jokes huh?" she laughed, "sure, I'll take it as that."

"For someone who didn't understand one eyed monster, you seem to be taking that well."

"I'm fine with that stuff," she elbowed him, "I was just caught off guard. Zeke's a handful."

"I… yeah, I suppose," Brandon rolled his eyes, "sure."

"Who's being mean now?"

"How is that being mean?" he exclaimed, "I was saying sure. Seriously, no sarcasm, I swear!"

"Sure, sure."

"What? I said-"

"Yeah, sure sure does sound like sarcasm hmm?"

"Okay yeah," he admitted, "I guess."

She grinned as she stood up, "alrighty then, let's get moving."

"Ugh, right," he sighed.

"Come on lazy bones," she said as she tugged him up.

"Now I just want to rest," he groaned, "curse your cat side."

"I have nothing in common with the animal you idiot," she rolled her eyes, "neither do most Gormotti."

"Most?"

"Well obviously some are going to be cat like," she scoffed, "just like some humans are going to be cat like."

"Fair enough."

"I'm assuming I've made my point then?"

"I know I know. But you know I was joking right?"

"Yeah, and I think that I've made it clear that I don't like that joke," she narrowed her eyes.

"Okay, sorry, I wasn't thinking."

She smiled and leaned into his side, "you're so genuine it's hard to be mad."

He rubbed her head, "I try milady."

"That's all I want."

"All I need is you eh?"

"All I need is you," she confirmed.

* * *

"Just a couple of more elevators," Brandon said as he shivered. Temperature control seemed to have gone offline along with the major electrical and mechanical components.

"Fuck," Nia cursed beside him.

Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for the security system.

"When did you start swearing?" Brandon gave her a look as he activated his armor in the face of the massive mech in front of them.

"Well you're a bad influence," she punched his shoulder lightly.

"Right," he said as he rolled out of the way of the mech trying to smash them, "but what was the saying? Do as I say and not as I do?"

"Yeah well," she gave him a wink, "I've already been tainted."

"Damn," he said, "I regret my life decisions."

"As you should," she laughed.

She hit the mech with a pressurized blade of water, denting the area it struck.

"Hey that's it!" Brandon pointed, "there! Concentrate fire!"

Nia nodded as she blasted the mech continuously at the spot, Brandon adding in his own firepower, slowly gouging out chunks of metal.

"Quick!" he pointed, "send a stream of water into the thing!"

"Right!" she pointed her scimitar and blasted a stream of water directly into the gash in the hunk of metal causing it to immediately short circuit and collapse in a heap.

"They don't make these waterproof?" Nia gasped for breath, the fight taking a lot out of her despite herself.

"Yes they do," Brandon responded, "it's just that they probably don't expect water to be flung at the robot up here."

"Why's that?"

"Water is heavy, we are high up, therefore it is hard to get a lot of water up here."

"Huh," she pounded a fist to her chest, "why is it so hard to breath? It almost feels like the Spirit Crucible."

"We're high up. There is little climate control. Therefore there is little oxygen."

"Gah this sucks."

"At least you lived above the clouds your entire life," Brandon panted, "I've lived at ground level for most of my life so this is even harder for me. It's even better for you because you were at least semi athletic. I wasn't."

"Didn't you work as a ship guard?" she asked.

"Yeah but it was almost completely intimidation with the big scary crackling electric gauntlets," he responded, "I rarely actually fought against pirates."

"They didn't have some kind of test to see how good you were?"

"Yeah but it was mostly a sparring match versus one of their better guards, no actual training required."

"Looks like this is going to get you into shape then."

"You could say that about this entire journey."

"True enough," Nia said as she planted her sword into the metal floor, using the weapon to prop herself up, "why are you so out of shape then? You've been essentially exercising for months."

"Hey don't go insulting my metabolism. Just because yours is probably perfect doesn't mean that you can go and make fun of mine!"

"How am I insulting your metabolism?" she asked, lifting her nose slightly with crossed arms, "I'm just teasing. Besides, I like you with a softer body, more comfortable to snuggle with."

Brandon rolled his eyes, "so you've told me."

"Yeah well it sounded like you could use a confidence booster."

"Hm yea- wait what?"

Nia just giggled as she walked to the elevator.

"H-hey! Wait up! Get back here-!"

* * *

"Looks like we're early to the party for once," Brandon said as he stepped into the room, hand in hand with Nia, Jin standing opposite to them.

He activated his armor once more for what felt like the hundredth time that day, everything slightly bulkier from his recent upgrades installed by him with Nia. The labs and workshops within the tower had been extremely useful. It was unfortunate that Torna had skipped all of it. For that, they would suffer.

"Jin," Nia hissed.

"Nia," he responded, his voice peculiar, a new look in his eye. One of more respect, and sadness.

Brandon clenched a fist, "let's cut to the chase. Step aside or we will have to kill you."

Jin's only response was to draw his sword.

Brandon gave a tired sigh, "so be it." His suit clanged and whirred as his visor came up, covering his face entirely.

Jin flickered forward, taking the initiative. Brandon, even without being able to move at light speed was able to have his HUD calculate his movement precisely. Maybe not quite as accurate as Mythra's foresight but still very powerful nonetheless, as math tends to be.

He leaned to the side and raised a gauntlet, letting Jin's blade slide down the metal of his armor and then counterattacked, knocking Jin's arm away then slamming a fist forward. Jin simply flickered away, avoiding the brunt of the impact.

"You're getting slower old man," Brandon taunted.

Jin simply narrowed his eyes and moved again, not falling for the bait.

"Keep your guard up," Brandon said as he moved to block Jin's attack again, defending Nia from the ice blade.

"Speak for yourself," she said as she twirled him around and raised her own blade to block.

Brandon grinned at her from under his visor, "you know my armor would have protected me from that right?"

The two spun around in a dance of combat, each defending the other from harm, switching the scimitar between the two rapidfire to fight, Nia even able to hold her own as she had Brandon fashion wrist mounts for her energy rings.

"I find that irrelevant. I still worry."

"And you're the one to talk?" he joked, "you're squishier than I am. Especially as a flesh eater you can take actual damage."

"Squishy?"

"I said squishier."

Nia stuck her tongue out, "same difference, jerk. How am I squishy? If anything you're the squishy one without your armor."

"So I'm the jerk huh?" he slammed a fist into the wall, sending an electric current through and created a wave of heat from the high resistance to counter Jin's frost wave, "but that's my point. You don't have armor and you refused my generous offer."

"Armor would restrict my movement," she said as she twirled to avoid Jin's strike, proving her point."

"Maybe. I suppose I've never been fond of too little defense."

The platform rumbled, throwing all three combatants off balance.

"What the hell was that?"

Jin growled, "Indol."

….

 **As my beta got confused I thought to clarify a thing or 2 here. As it was the first time that the group really sat down and took a break in the last chapter obviously Rex would be fawning over Mythra/Pyra. I was trying to make a slightly humorous scene where even Pyra's patient motherly personality could be tested by Rex asking are you okay like a billion times. You can only go over "are you okay?" "Yes I'm okay Rex." "But are you suuure you're okay?" so many times before it gets tiring. Yes Rex might get slightly worried but he also has Zeke who would just point out the obvious and go like we're only a short distance away so let's explore or something like that.**

 **When the sensor is tripped and the alarm goes off the others would immediately run over to the rendezvous point where Brandon and Nia were sitting. The security droids would attack in force with massive numbers meaning that depending on how they fought, the group would have been slowly forced apart and because each person has the group they are most comfortable with they'd be separated in the massive swarm of robots. As Brandon and Nia are more used to fighting side by side they would stick very close and kind of "shut out" the others. I just didn't want to write that in because I feel like even a couple of paragraphs of things shooting lasers and blowing up would get boring real fast. (and also I don't feel confident enough to write that properly)**

 **Also yes they got split up again, wah wah.**

 **I also realized how bad of a villain I created. Welp, just another thing to fix in a rewrite. I also seem to use the same descriptors of actions, ie shrugged, a lot. Hm. That idk how to fix.**

 **Sorry about the long A/N but had to make sure that I was clear.**


	28. Chapter 27: The Prophet

Chapter 27: The Prophet

* * *

 **Sorry it took so long to update… college has been killing me and playing competitive Starcraft isn't helping. I also kind of hit a writer's block again. I just couldn't figure out how to make this chapter seem good so I ended up just spewing my thoughts out onto the draft and decided not to edit it.**

 **Plz review, I like reviewers. It also looks like a ton of people read the first chapter then are turned off by it so I'm going to put in some work to fix it up before the next chapter.**

 **RR, idk if you'll see this but damn, thank you so much. You have no idea how much a nice comment like that means to me. I kind of shit on my own work through the story so reading that really made my day. I couldn't stop smiling after reading that. I will be continuing this on, both by rewriting parts I'm not satisfied with and later on with a sequel, maybe even a prequel. Technically all my other stories so far are also Brandon/Nia stories, just set in different universes if you want to give those a read.**

… **.**

"Indol?"

"You heard what I said."

"But what? How?"

"You think they're so innocent in all of this?" Jin glared, "Amalthus has been consolidating his power for centuries. He's amassed an army and outfitted the Indoline titan with more weapons than you…" he turned to Nia, "well, you can imagine."

"I thought they were just religious nuts," Brandon said, "how could he have amassed weapons… unless…"

"Core crystals."

"Fuck, their refinement process."

Nia shivered, "you're telling me I could have ended up brainwashed into Indol?"

"You probably were at some point or another," Jin said, "but," he gave Brandon what looked like an appreciative glance, "you never will be again."

Brandon gave a slow solemn nod, "why are you still doing this? It seems like you've rethought some things before coming here."

Jin paused, "I think that answer is best reserved."

"For Rex I assume."

"Brandon!"

"Well speak of the devil," he breathed, "nice timing!" he yelled, glancing back to see the rest of the team. They all ran up and took positions side by side with Brandon and Nia.

"So nice of you to finally turn up," he snarked.

"We had some trouble on the way up," Rex replied.

"Indol?"

"How'd you know?" Rex sounded unsurprised that Brandon knew.

Brandon simply jerked his chin out at Jin in response.

"Hm."

"You don't seem all too surprised."

"I can see the look in his eye."

"Well then," Brandon grinned, "looks like you've become more perceptive."

"Yeah, and I think that Jin's not going to attack us anymore," he looked over the white knight, "right?" He stepped forward, "I have an answer, and I'm going to go to the top to check it."

"And then what?" Jin said, "open up Elysium to humans?"

Rex put a foot forward, "yes, obviously."

"Can't you see where that leads? Humans will just make it another Morytha, just as they are doing to the Titans right now."

"I won't let that happen," Rex said, determination lining his voice.

"And what happens after you die?"

Rex sighed and took a step back as he crossed his arms. He took a breath after a moment, "humans are pretty interesting, aren't we? This world is incredible, and filled with incredible people. If I'm not around to do it, there will always be someone else that we pass our ideas and memories onto. That's also how you blades work, isn't it? It may depend from blade to blade, but it's like how it depends on human to human. Some will choose to follow in my footsteps. Others would try to erase them."

"But one thing that gave me certainty?" he tilted his head forward slightly, "well, I guess two things. Pyra for one. She keeps on keeping on, even when knowing that one day she will lose me. But she learns from that. The other thing. These two, my brother and friend."

Rex smiled at the couple, "I know that if they both died now, their only regret would have been not spending more time together. If either of them was on the deathbed, any past mistakes, any grudge that might have been developed, all would be forgiven, just like that. It's because their love holds them together, and ultimately, those don't matter. What matters is their relationship. I think you understood that at some point, and I'm willing to bet that you would give up anything if it meant you could tell Lora that you love her, just one more time."

"Well said," Brandon nodded in approval.

Jin gasped in pain suddenly and collapsed to a knee. Brandon started forward but jerked back in shock as a bullet hole appeared in the ground in front of him.

"Stay away from Jin," a disembodied voice hissed.

An energy arrow flew by his head to emphasize the point.

"Akhos, Patroka, Tina." Nia hissed at the figures sprinting across the massive chamber.

"You're not going to touch Jin-"

"Stand down," Jin ordered, recovering his breath.

"But-"

"Stand down. Our mission is complete. There is nothing more that we can do."

The Spectre decloaked, "but then… what am I supposed to do?" She seemed broken.

"Nia," Patroka called, concerned with other things, "can you… can you help Jin?"

Nia looked at her in surprise, "well, it would only be a temporary measure but I think so," she immediately went into a light jog, Brandon not far behind. She knelt down to Jin's downed form and started healing, no, more… restoring him to the best of her ability.

"There," she wiped the sweat from her brow, "that should hold up for a little bit."

Jin nodded and tried to stand.

"Don't abuse it," Nia held out a hand and gingerly helped him into a sitting position, "you're not back up to one hundred percent." Brandon huffed and crossed his arms.

"I'll head out and prep Jin's treatment," Patroka nodded, confident in Nia's skills.

"Akhos, make yourself useful," she turned and jogged for the exit.

"Yeah yeah," he responded, clearly annoyed, "I got him."

"Gah!"

"What the f-" Brandon uncrossed his arms and looked over to where the Tornan Flesh Eater had fallen.

"You will climb no further!" a voice boomed as a hulking creature slowly rose to its feet.

"What is that thing?" Brandon exclaimed as he positioned his body between the thing and Nia, more unconsciously than anything.

"Amalthus!" Zeke took a step forward to examine the being more closely, "but… why does he look like that?"

Amalthus reached down and sunk his fingers into the body of Patroka and tore her Core Crystal straight out of her back. He clenched the Core tightly in a fist and seemed to _absorb_ it into his body, the orbs covering his body lighting up as energy flowed through him.

"The Architect sent down these core crystals for my sake!" he said, almost as if answering an unasked question, "to find and raise cores containing unparalleled data! That's why-"

A fist slammed into his face.

"No one asked," Brandon growled as he slid across the metal floor, "you religious lunatic. Those core crystals were created by humans to achieve immortality. It's almost certainly blind luck that brought them here and created life."

"A heretic," Amalthus' eyes widened with glee, "I'll enjoy putting you in your place."

"I'm not a heretic asshat," Brandon pointed at the amalgamation of a living creature, "you're just a poser. I'm from the Architect's time. You may speak for God, but what does that mean to a non-believer?"

"You infidel!" he cried in rage, "I am an agent of the Architect's will! You've seen the Aegis' power! It is to destroy things unnecessary to this world."

Pyra put her hands together over her heart, "I think I've just realized something. It's you, Amalthus. It's you who has tainted Malos."

"And so what if I have?" he spread his arms uncaringly, "look around. You've had your trip around Alrest, you've seen the state of Morytha. Mankind will never change."

"See that's where you're wrong," Brandon tilted his head slightly as he took Nia's hand to emphasize his point, "humans are always changing, evolving. I think it's really you who hasn't changed, believing the same thing for several hundred years would probably do that. You-"

He was interrupted as Akhos shoved him to the side.

"You monster!" he screamed, his voice wracked with grief and the pain of losing a loved one.

"I'll kill you for this!" he nocked an Ether arrow and drew his bow back, past the point where he normally could have with desperate strength fueling him. He fired and the arrow streaked through the air… where it bounced harmlessly off of Amalthus' chest before dissipating.

Brandon could only watched with a numbed shock as a tentacle whipped past him faster than he could react and grabbed the blue Tornan Blade.

"You dare strike me?" Amalthus brought the Blade up to his face, "you? A mere Blade who's very existence depends on ours? Who's very existence is meant to serve me?"

"Damn it," Nia tossed Brandon her blade, "do something!"

'What the hell am I supposed to do?' was the thought running through his mind. Deciding not to voice his complaints he lifted the sword as Nia started channeling energy through it. He glanced at Rex who was doing much the same with the Third Sword. They stepped close to each other and swung their swords, releasing a blast of both light energy and water like energy.

Brandon watched in anticipation as his vision was obscured for a second from the blast of light and plasma that was the result of high powered energy colliding with Amalthus.

He frowned when Amalthus emerged unscathed.

"Let him go!" Nia demanded as she rushed up to Brandon's side. Their eyes met briefly before they attacked together. Amalthus barely looked interested as he blocked with a tentacle then counterattacked. Brandon's eyes widened before he adjusted his body to take the brunt of the impact.

"What the hell is he made of?" he groaned as he picked himself and Nia up.

"Every damn processed core," Nia snarled in disgust as she was dragged to her feet.

"Keep it going!" Brandon yelled as he struck Amalthus with a bolt of electricity, "he's bound to have a weak point somewhere!"

"Rather an odd feeling," he heard Morag comment, "trying to save a member of Torna."

"But it feels like the right thing to do," Brighid added, the two Ardanian soldiers fighting back to back, each blasting fire with a respective whipsword and blocking any tentacle that flailed nearby.

"Gah! Enough!" Amalthus screeched as he was continuously struck by continuous blade attacks and the technological terror that was Brandon.

"Who do you think you are?" he yelled as he unleashed a shockwave throwing everyone back, even sliding Brandon back several feet despite his heavy armor.

Brandon stepped forward. Nia smiled, fully knowing there was a wide smirk behind Brandon's faceplate.

"Who am I?" Brandon rolled his shoulders, "I am Brandon Hunter of Morytha, inventor of the Artifice technology and the second master of science only behind the top Imperial scientist, Klaus. My technology far outstrips anything and everything in your possession."

"You? From Morytha?" he scoffed, "even if that were true, what's your point. You're just another arrogant human."

"I'm from Morytha too," Tina finally snapped to attention.

Brandon gave her a surprised look but stepped aside.

"I've lived my entire life with one purpose: to serve. But I think I have a new purpose now. To kill you. The one responsible for all the suffering in Alrest."

"I've got my own bone to pick," Nia gave her a look, "you killed Dromarch, and nothing will get me to forget that," she gave a tired sigh, "but holding a grudge seems so stupid now, I think that getting rid of this bastard is a good start to forgiveness."

"From one girl without meaning to another huh?"

Nia smiled, "oh, I've found my meaning," she looked over at Brandon who gave a nod, "I hope you can find yours soon."

"Oh shut your mouths!" Amalthus roared as he blasted the pair with an energy beam, forcing the group apart.

"You think that there's any meaning to this world? There is nothing! Nothing but the Architect's will!"

"This guy's starting to piss me off," Brandon clenched a fist.

"You think this is a joke?" Amalthus grabbed Akhos with a hand and reached with his other and tore out his core crystal. He discarded Akhos' body with a casual toss as he absorbed the crystal into his body.

"That…" Akhos gasped, "was surprisingly painful." He gave Jin one last smile before the light faded from his eyes.

"You bastard!" Jin yelled, trying to rise to his feet but promptly fell to his knees.

"You stay there," Rex gave him a reassuring smile, "we've got this. We are human after all. That makes him our problem."

"My heart is as human as yours-"

"Then you'd better take good care of it," Rex fired back.

"Rex-"

"We're going to break the five hundred… no, millennia long curse right here."

"Yeah!" Pyra charged up the Third Sword and every other blade followed suit, along with the two tech users powering up their weapons.

"For those we've lost. For those we couldn't protect! For the ones we love! And… for the world!" Brandon yelled as he pointed Nia's sword at Amalthus, "we've got him outnumbered and out powered. Let's do this!"

Tina started by immediately putting a sniper round into Amalthus' shoulder and cloaking, trying to move to a more secure area to flank the Core powered lunatic.

Amalthus was slowly forced back, step by step, as the sheer number of elemental attacks slowly pushed through his defenses, forcing any offense he tried to turn into a defensive move.

Blades of water, bolts of electricity, and beams of light streaked through the air to strike at Amalthus' exposed limbs.

"This isn't possible!" Amalthus cried, "all of the cores, all of the Architect's words are mine! I am destined to carry out his will and destroy the world, and you cannot interfere!"

A bullet struck the side of his face interrupting his ravings.

"I refuse to let it end like this!" he let loose another blast of energy even more powerful than the last, throwing everyone, even Brandon, off their feet and even knocking out Tina's personal cloaking field.

Amalthus yelled a battle cry as he created more energy tendrils and pierced them into the wall, slowly merging with the space station.

"Shit! The beanstalk can't take structural damage!" Brandon rocketed forward, "stop him! He's digging into the spine of the elevator!"

"Watch out!" Nia raised her hands, forming a shield in front of him right before a tentacle slammed into him. Despite the power she pumped into it, Amalthus still shattered the shield with ease and flung Brandon back. Nia reacted quickly, jumping into position to catch the inventor with a wall of water.

"Be careful you bloody idiot."

"I know that you've got my back."

"Yeah, who else would protect your sorry arse?"

"Only you."

Brandon twisted his body to absorb the impact of another tentacle, taking it to the back. The pair was flung to the side, Brandon maneuvered his body to protect Nia from the impact with the ground, rolling to reduce the force.

"Good thing we've got each other's backs," he grinned from behind his helmet.

"Yeah," she groaned, "you know I appreciate you trying to shield me but, ow… your armor is still metal."

"Still softer than the wall," Brandon flushed.

"Barely," she rolled her shoulder and winced.

"Jin watch out!" she suddenly reached out a hand.

Rex gasped and rushed to Jin's side to block Amalthus' attack. But unlike Brandon, and despite his recent upgrade, his armor isn't designed to absorb powerful kinetic impacts so he was easily flung to the side. Pyra tried to help but was slapped aside like a fly.

Jin caught her. "Mythra… you."

"Don't get me wrong," he heard her scoff as she flipped back to Mythra, "he would have been unstoppable with your core."

Jin smiled and slowly lowered the barely conscious blade to the ground. Amalthus took that as his moment to strike, lashing out again. Jin raised a hand and froze the tentacles in response.

"What?" Amalthus cried, "you-"

Jin looked back, "Nia, take care of them."

She gulped, "right."

Brandon helped her to her feet and wrapped one of her arms around his shoulder so she could limp over.

"Jin," she said as she healed Rex and Mythra, "why… why didn't you kill me when I joined Brandon and the others."

"Well, it wasn't a mistake, was it?" He sighed softly, "becoming the blade of someone you trust… well, someone you love. You've found your place in this world. Just like I thought I did, all those years ago."

"Rex, stop Malos. He's still searching for his own identity. Tell him the answer you found," he chuckled softly, "after five hundred years, an answer I couldn't find. An answer all of Torna couldn't find, the world's biggest puzzle, solved by a boy."

He turned to face Amalthus.

"You should have died with Torna!"

"And you deserve to die after all you've done, Amalthus! Our duty has been passed down."

"Your duty is inconsequential to my destiny!" He roared, firing a beam of purple energy.

Jin lowered the temperature to absolute zero, utterly stopping the energy in its tracks. Using the moisture in the air, he formed several massive icicles and flung them at Amalthus, piercing his body.

"Architect!" he cried in agony, "I should have been your chosen one. I lived as you wanted me to! Father, why… do you not answer when I call?"

A light seemed to come on in his eyes before fading away, "mother? I've missed you..."

Amalthus died with a sigh, the light in his eyes extinguishing.

Jin gave the group a glance before looking up, "for what it's worth, I'm sorry. And thank you. For everything."

"Jin…"

"Jin you bastard," Brandon scowled, "taking the easy way out without properly making it up to Nia."

Jin smiled as he slowly faded, "you're a lucky man. Make sure to treat her right. She's one of a kind."

Brandon retracted his faceplate. He gave Jin a solemn nod, "you got that right."

"You're a better man than me. Keep her safe."

"I will."

Jin nodded, satisfied. He died that way, happy for the first time in centuries.

"Hah that bastard," Brandon turned to see Tina lift herself to her feet, "didn't even let me get the kill."

"You…"

"Hmph, don't give me your pity."

"Why…" Nia looked at Brandon, who after a moment's hesitation, nodded, "why don't you come with us?"

"Thank you… Nia. But it wouldn't be right," she sat down, cross legged, "just leave me here. I've lived out my purpose and I've overstayed my welcome. I'd like to join the rest of Torna."

"But-"

Brandon put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. He started shrugging off his backpack but Tina put up a hand.

"My gun is enough."

"Understood."

Brandon gave her a lazy two finger salute and she laughed at the irony: the rebellion's parody of the Imperial salute.

"Of course Jin remains a pain in the ass till the end," Brandon sighed as he looked up the mountain that was the remains of Amalthus, "he could have at least tried to kill him out of the way of the door we need to take."

"That was a door? I thought you said it was the spine."

"It is the spine, the elevator is built into it."

"I thought you said that it wasn't working."

"Which it isn't," he grunted as he started trying to shove the mass of core crystals to the side, "hey Rex, Poppi, come over here and help me."

"Then-"

"There's a staircase."

"Oh," she facepalmed, "well I feel like an idiot."

"Ready? Heave!" The trio gave it all their strength, Rex and Poppi pulling on Rex's anchor and Brandon pushing with all the strength his exosuit could offer. At first nothing happened. Then Morag, Zeke, Mythra, and everyone else joined in on one side or the other, eventually shoving the corpse out of the way.

"Well my back's going to be in pain tomorrow," Brandon said as he stretched out, sighing when he heard and felt several pops.

"Alright, let me just hook up my stuff, just to give it enough power to unlock… there. Poppi, grab the doors on that side, don't be afraid to just push through the metal to get a grip. I'll do the same on this side… and pull!" The pair slowly pulled the doors open through sheer brute force.

"Okay, there should be a staircase to the left if you keep on going down this hall."

"Right," Rex nodded, "let's go."

The group walked through the hallway on the way to the top. Brandon closed his eyes in respect when he heard the subtle sound of a muffled gunshot. Nia gripped his hand tightly. He squeezed it back.

* * *

"That…" Brandon huffed, "was way more stairs than I remember."

"Dude," Rex put a hand on his shoulder, "you're out of shape. I don't know what kind of fitness you had before but you definitely didn't stay active enough over the last couple of years."

"Shut up," Brandon panted, "just give me a second… the rest of you can check out the view or something."

Rex laughed, "yeah sure, I'll do that so you can recover your ego."

Nia patted Brandon's back, "this is getting old. Ever thought of doing any fitness stuff in your free time?"

"No… because I was… always working on something."

She sighed, "you can be such a buckethead sometimes."

"Look, I'm better than some people."

"Sure sure," she smiled, "tell yourself that."

"Why do you _and_ Rex have to team up on me?"

"We tease out of love," she chuckled, "it's tease or be teased."

"Not fair."

"Whoa!"

Brandon cracked a grin despite his body trying to heave out his lungs. He sucked in a large breath and walked over to the massive viewing port that the others had gathered around.

"Incredible, isn't it? The massive expanse of space above and the beauty of the Earth below."

"I mean… yeah, wow."

"Nothing like it. Though the Cloud Sea spoils it a little," he straightened up, his weak lungs forgotten for the moment, "all the way back when the Cloud Sea didn't exist, we lived on massive hunks of land called continents, our equivalent to Titans while the oceans around us were made of water and not clouds. That was fantastic." He let out a sigh. "Too bad the Titans are only the size of small countries and maybe a large city…"

"Wait," he felt someone tap his arm, "aren't those shapes down there Titans?"

Brandon squinted, "uh, maybe. I can't really tell."

"Why yes, that looks like Mor Ardain down there, don't you think Brighid?" Morag said.

"It's hard to tell from this distance."

Brandon cleared his throat, "well we're easily over ninety kilometers above the Cloud Sea. Even if that was it there's no way you could actually tell."

"Mmh well you're probably right."

"Yeah," he turned around, "well then… Elysium is right through that hallway over there. The finale to our journey," he grinned, "what're you waiting for? The paradise of the future awaits us, New Los Angeles."

* * *

Brandon collapsed to his knees, "I… I thought that it would be in disrepair but… this? It's a freaking desert."

"I don't understand."

"It's a man made city. Without maintenance it would obviously be degraded… but the automated systems have completely shut down. The Artifices are still in operation and the point of this section was a city for the rich. It shouldn't be this bad."

Brandon jumped at the gong of a giant bell.

"Well that's one thing that hasn't rusted away…"

Rex slammed a fist into the sandy ground beneath them, "this was all for nothing! The greenery, the birds, the water... Why? Why is this how it is?"

"It wasn't for nothing," Brandon placed a hand on his shoulder, "after all, all of this got me my girlfriend," he laughed, trying to lighten the mood. When Rex didn't respond Brandon sighed and crouched down, "but in all seriousness. This wasn't for nothing. The people you've met, the journey you've been through, the friends and family that we made. Even without a magical solution, you can't say that meeting everyone was a mistake, was it?"

"I guess not."

"Good man. If you had said that meeting Pyra was a mistake… well I would punch you but I think Mythra would have beaten me to the… punch."

Rex chuckled, "your sense of humor… hah. Right, we still have to stop Malos and meet the Architect."

"Right," Brandon helped Rex to his feet, "to the finish line."

….

 **I don't really feel that good about this chapter. Despite working on it for so long it just doesn't feel like it's very good. IDK I guess it's something to consider later. There's going to be about 2 ish chapters until then end.**

 **So yes I am changing up Tina's character/personality and therefore motivation, obviously (as I said I would). Jeeesus how stupid was I when I was like "she wants to take over the world without any other motivation!" Christ sake I did the same thing that I criticized so many writers for: a shitty villain. Damn I feel like a hypocrite. Even then I was like her backstory is that she was indoctrinated at a young age for exceptional physical and mental fortitude so she was built up by the government as a special ops soldier who was genetically and cybernetically enhanced to be the perfect weapon. The point is that she lacks purpose. She wouldn't take some kind of sadistic joy out of beating Brandon or have a hunger to climb up higher. The reason why she would work with Torna is because she knows nothing else. She was brought into a new world with nothing her old life was built around and when a group came along and offered her the opportunity to be essentially who she used to be, she took it. Also I do not condone suicide. Please don't, if you need help there are more people out there that care than you realize. Hell, even I can help, having gone through some pretty bad depression myself. I'm different from my fictional characters, if I see someone who needs help I go and help them.**

 **I'm also going to put her in more scenes so that this death is actually kind of impactful, a villain is only a villain because they don't know what else to do and dies before truly finding what they want, where they belong, and what they were meant to do.**

 **That's why the rest of the deaths of Torna were impactful in the game because they were very similar in that they were a ragtag band of blades that had lost all purpose in life and decided to aim their general rage at the world and humanity.**

 **I get that kind of weakens the story at the moment as a reviewer has pointed out, but I just needed to correct this and I'll address it again in the rewrite of the earlier chapters.**

 **Sorry to extend the author's notes even further but I would like some feedback on the author's notes. Mostly because I know that some people don't like the longer A/Ns but there are probably some who are like me and enjoy the longer notes. Feels a bit more like the author is trying to connect with the fans. If the 60ish of you unique viewers like longer A/Ns I was thinking of formatting it like this: start with a little update on my life (which is probably going to be an excuse on why the chapter was late), then respond to feedback from the last chapter, then the actual chapter, then some technical things like cool tech or science in the chapter, finished off by my own feelings about the chapter.**


	29. Chapter 28: The Architect

Chapter 28: The Architect

 **Sorry this took so long… for like the billionth time in a row. College is still a pain and I'm super behind on so many things. Slowly dying, send help…**

 **Also fanfiction is allowed in China and Russia? Is that legit or is the site yanking my chain. This is a place where you can write almost whatever you want and with the whole Blizzard thing going down… Well whatever, I'm not going to say anything because I don't want to go down in controversy. If you want to know about it or my opinion just pm me or something.**

 **Hmmm, maybe it is rushed. I'm not really that good at writing fight scenes so I do kind of rush through them. Unless you're talking about the story as a whole in which case, yes very, which I intend to mostly fix. The problem is a lot of the cutscenes do kind of go by quickly and it's the traveling and actual gameplay that takes up the canon time. Also school. I have so much stuff to do it's not even funny at this point and sometimes I feel like I just have to get stuff out.**

 **Anyways, on with the show!**

… **.**

"You know I never thought I would ever get to visit New LA and I certainly never imagined it to be like this," Brandon said as the group walked past several worn down buildings.

"This is an actual reminder of humanity's hubris. The rich and elite building a city in the skies. Only to have it decay to a shell of what it once was."

He felt Nia slip her hand into his. He gave a her hand a squeeze and smiled down at her.

"You're not one of them," she gave him a quick peck on the cheek, "wouldn't have fallen for someone like that."

"Gee thanks."

"I'm serious. I love you. You shouldn't trouble yourself over the actions of others."

"And I love you."

She smiled, "of course you do. Who wouldn't fall for me?"

"Anyone other than me."

"Hey!"

Brandon laughed.

"Ugh," Nia jerked her hand away, "you're so mean."

"Can't take what you dish out huh?"

"I'm messing with you," she leaned onto his shoulder.

"Of course you are," he reached over to scratch his left arm.

"Uh, isn't that metal?" Nia asked.

"Yeah," Brandon chuckled sheepishly, "phantom pains. It makes it worse that my brain still thinks my arm is there because of the connection to my nervous system. Then again it would be like that without the connection."

"Huh, is that so?"

"Yeah, thought you would know that miss medical expert," he put his arm around her shoulders.

"I don't deal with ptsd."

"Uh... first, I don't think that's ptsd, second, I thought you said you did stuff with mental health."

"I don't know, okay? Wasn't in my store of knowledge, so sue me."

"I guess that makes sense," Brandon hummed to himself in thought, "I was never a real biomed guy. I think the stuff that they had allowed them to either have prosthetics as good as the real deal or a full on replacement."

"Replacement?"

"Yeah," he said as he held his left arm, flexing his mechanical fingers, "their prosthetics made it feel like you never lost your arm in the first place… or they could just print you a new arm."

"Print? How- what?"

He laughed, "I'm getting to that milady. You know the general definition of print right?"

"Yeah?"

"We had a thing called three D printing. We were able to print out three dimensional objects made of metal and plastic, creating things with computers. What I know that we were able to do was literally print unique cells to put together body parts that people needed to the exact specification they needed it."

"Whoa. So are you planning on doing that later?"

"Again, not a biomedical expert. I couldn't do that without years of research and honestly it would be much easier to just make a good prosthetic and I could probably do a much better job with that."

Nia huffed, "I could help, I am a healer after all."

"Right, I don't doubt your ability," he tilted his head, "I'm doubting mine. You would have to watch as I chopped off my hand and leg again if I mess up the procedure or creating the parts in the first place. That would also be years after I dedicate focused study to the area, time that I could be spending to do better things."

"Hm."

"Also you literally gave Malos super cancer. How come you weren't able to accelerate my cellular regeneration to regrow my limbs?"

"I can't make you a lizard. I can heal well, I can't form a limb for you without knowing exactly how it was before."

"Fair enough."

"Hey you self centered lovebirds!" Rex called, "do you even know where we're going?"

"Of course I do," Brandon said, "we're following the sound of the bell to the church."

"Why are we-?"

"If the bell is still ringing, which it is, it's the only thing here that's functioning which by all right it shouldn't be."

"Hm."

"Well," Nia said, "there's something that feels like it's drawing me in."

"You sure it's not just the giant bell ringing?"

"Yes," she gave him a dry stare.

"She's not the only one feeling it," Rex added, "I'm kind of feeling it as well."

"So something's drawing you there. Alright then, I guess we're following your gut feeling then."

"Right…"

"Hm? What's up?"

"I… I don't know how you're doing this. Staying so calm here in the middle of humanity's greatest failure. My-"

"Having Nia by my side helps," Brandon interrupted, placing his hand on Nia's head, "but this isn't your fault."

"But I'm the one who-"

"Brought us here? We all chose to follow along. If anything I'm more to blame, I am the one who actually had to convince Nia to come along."

"And I don't regret it," she sighed.

"So I'm that great huh?"

"Eh," she tilted her hand, "I'd say mediocre at best."

"Oh is that so?"

"I don't know," she shrugged, "all I'm going to say is that you'd better start trying harder."

"How the hell am I supposed to do that?"

"Figure it out yourself-"

* * *

"Well here we are," Brandon put a hand on his hip and gestured with the robotic one, "what now?"

"This was built by your people," Rex said.

"Yeah, and some of my tech. So what? You're the one with the sixth sense."

"Yeah but your logic is what triggered it."

"Okay enough bickering you pair of dolts," Nia pushed past the two, "it's a building yeah? Let's go inside first huh?"

She sashayed up to the door, putting an extra swing in her hips and shot a teasing glance back at Brandon who immediately blushed and looked away.

"You're evil."

She shot him a wink, "come on buckethead, stop ogling and help me with these doors. They're kind of heavy."

"Of course milady. Forgot that these are usually made of heavy metal."

"And you were going to leave your poor old girlfriend to do this on her own."

"You're a blade!" he exclaimed as he pushed the doors open with Nia, "I'm almost definitely physically weaker than you are."

"Not with that exosuit on you're not."

"It only enhances my strength by a little bit. It's nowhere near the ridiculous military grade ones that can get you past one hundred times an average human's strength."

"One hundred?"

"Yeah, and that was the basic combat outfit," he smirked, "the bigger outfits like the marauder suits brought it up to almost three hundred times. Although once you get past that point it's basically riding a machine."

"There's stuff bigger than that?"

"Yeah, the suits used by construction workers, called the SCV, was pretty big-"

"What?"

"That… is a massive staircase."

"Wha- oh. How did I miss that?"

"Probably because you were engrossed with your boyfriend," Rex headed down the stairs without hesitation.

"You arse," Nia chased after him. Brandon laughed as he heard the cackling of Rex fading down the steps. He noticed Morag and Zeke share an eyeroll as they padded up from behind.

He started down the steps then was immediately engulfed in darkness.

* * *

Brandon awoke with a gasp.

"W-what? Where?"

He rose to his feet unsteadily.

"Nia? Rex?"

He looked around him.

"No… It… can't be…"

He was in an imperial prison. He looked down to his left side in desperation. The main physical proof of his adventure… was gone, or rather was back. His left arm and leg were attached to his body.

"Oh it is sir, we lost."

Brandon jumped at the voice.

"Ethan?"

"Yes sir, that's me."

"What's going on?"

"We lost. From what I can hear we're going to be in here for life. I would rather have die in battle or be executed but they're not going to let us off that easily."

"And they have to prove to the people that they're the good guys," Brandon muttered out of habit.

"Yeah," Ethan chuckled, "surprised that you're able to form coherent thought so quickly after the coma but I guess I shouldn't have been surprised with you."

Brandon sat down heavily.

"Took me a good week to recover properly," Ethan continued, "had an insane dream in it as well."

"Which was?"

"Well, it's getting foggier as time passes. I remember something about a place called Alrest…"

He might have said more but Brandon's brain tuned it all out. That was the final confirmation he needed. Everything that he had fought for was gone.

He buried his face in his hands and openly wept. He had finally been happy for the first time in his pathetic life, only to have that snatched away in an instant.

The tears eventually ran dry.

"Nia and Rex, they were your friends? Family?"

Brandon nodded, unable to answer with words.

"Yeah. I had that as well. Then waking up took them away. Cryosleep is a nasty thing."

"How did you deal with this?" Brandon croaked.

"I cried a lot. I still miss them to this day, a whole two months after waking up."

"I wonder how we ended up in the same place though."

"You were in Alrest too? It has to be something with the cryosleep but neither of us are psychologists or neurologists."

"I miss her so much," he clutched at his chest, "I don't know how to live without her."

"I understand. I was exactly the same. But it wasn't real whatever it was."

"I know," he rasped.

"Do you… want to tell me about her?"

"I can't. Not yet."

"Okay."

Brandon sighed, "I'm going to assume that we're being listened to right now."

"I think that assumption is correct."

"Which means they're waiting for us to give up some kind of intel."

Ethan chuckled, "there's the commander I respected. That wouldn't surprise me but everything that we know has probably already been given up by the other troops. They wouldn't tell me how long I was out for and there were definitely soldiers who didn't get into one of the cryogenic pods."

"Hah," he breathed, "guess only the labs the researches and I know about are left."

"Except that the scientists all hid away before our attack. You're the only one left."

"Bet they're tearing out their hair over this."

A laugh, "probably."

"I'm guessing that they're going to have me thrown into solitary then."

A shrug, "I couldn't say."

Brandon sighed in resignation and rubbed his chest, "god this hurts. There's a pain in my chest that won't go away. It's one thing to lose them, it's another for them to have never existed."

"I know sir."

"Oh Nia," he whispered as he curled up on the cot in the cell, tears flowing from his eyes again.

He fell into a restless sleep.

* * *

He woke up much later in a smaller cell. Looks like after it was obvious that he wouldn't give up any info he was separated from his comrade.

So it wasn't enough that he lost the only people he loved. He was also now alone. Fuck. Solitary was one of the worst human punishments imaginable because of the social nature of humans. Even with willpower, he would likely go insane before he would die of old age or other causes. He huffed, an appropriate punishment he guessed given the headache he must have caused the Empire. At least he raised hell while he could.

He still longed for Nia and probably would for a long time. He shook his head, trying to clear his mind of her. He would only drive himself insane remembering a figment of his imagination. He slammed a fist into the wall, hard enough to draw blood. He gripped his hand and winced, though the pain helped him focus.

A medical bot immediately detached itself from the ceiling and floated down to tend to his hand. So he couldn't kill himself here even if he wanted to. Of course he wouldn't throw his life away like that. Even if Nia wasn't real, he couldn't sully her memory like that.

He had to figure out what to do. He couldn't just sit here and stew in his own juices. Every fiber of his being screamed out against it.

First thing's first, was there any surveillance in the cell? Probably, but he had no idea where. He sat up and linked his hands under his chin.

He focused. There! Just the slightest flicker of movement. He made sure to keep the camera in his peripheral view, not giving himself away. He turned around, edging around slowly so the bot would follow him. He laid down, letting the bot float out of view of the camera, and grabbed the med-bot. He saw the alarm flare up but he quickly disabled it. Hopefully security would think nothing of it. They couldn't see what he was doing after all. He smirked, all too easy.

* * *

It had taken him several hours but he had completed the small transmitter and computer, not too difficult as the components were mostly there, the most difficult thing had been figuring out how to put the UI together. Time to put it to the test.

He hacked into the camera and set the feed to record him for the next thirty seconds then loop the footage.

He waited five minutes, just to be sure, then sat back up. He disassembled the former med-bot again and pulled out the small tool base he had already set up. It only took him a few more minutes to put together a small fusion cutter. He walked up to the cell door and activated the cutter. He worked his way around slowly, making sure to cut carefully around the hard light door projectors. He took much more time than he actually needed to as if he messed up, the projector could slice him in half.

He wiped a bead of sweat from his eyebrow and huffed in annoyance, several drops already having wound up in his eyes. Finally the last projector was disconnected and the barrier faded. He reconfigured the fusion cutter to blaster mode.

He would escape to fight another day or die trying.

The moment he stepped into the hall an alarm started blaring.

"Tsk," he clucked his tongue. He had forgotten about the laser sensors. Little he could do about that now. The first bullets started whizzing through the hall, forcing Brandon to duck back into his cell. He blind fired wildly in the direction of the gunshots, forcing the Imperial troops back to find their own cover, giving Brandon the time to shoot out the nearest cell's door and roll forward. He continued this process, each time making his way closer and closer to the end of the hallway. He knew that he took out some of the soldiers as the rate of fire had been vastly diminished, but no doubt reinforcements were on the way.

He just prayed that they would be stupid enough to keep sending human guards, the automated defenses were so much harder to deal with.

One guard left. He pounced from his cover, blasting the last soldier point black in the head, instantly killing him. Brandon sighed, he hated killing, people with families that had been essentially brainwashed into service. The only people he wouldn't regret killing were those at the top.

"Cell block E. Well that gives me nothing," he said aloud, the sound of his own voice grounding him. He had no idea which Imperial facility he was in. He could be anywhere from the World Tree to one of their underground military bases to just a straight prison, though both the first and third options seemed unlikely given that he had ejected from the World Tree and was a prisoner of war.

He picked a random direction, deciding that some kind of movement would be better than standing still even if he had to backtrack later on. Any time a guard would show up he would easily react and swiftly delivered killing shots to the head.

His luck eventually ran out and a guard managed to score a shot on his left arm. He grit his teeth in pain but it was nothing compared to getting the arm hacked off by Malos, dream or not. Good thing he hadn't opted for a larger gun.

He turned a corner and almost immediately slammed face first into a wall. A dead end… or rather, given how the area looked, some Imperial tryhard had lowered the blast doors. Not even a giant machine laser could cut through a set of blast doors fast enough, much less a fusion cutter.

He turned around and smiled, "Nia, I'll be with you soon." He turned back around the corner to see a large force of troops approaching him. He pocketed his weapon and sat down cross legged.

"The infamous Brandon Hunter," the lead soldier called, "I wouldn't normally disobey the Empire, but you've killed too many of my men, good men, for me to let that slide. Any last words?"

"Yeah," he smirked, "I'm home, milady."

The weapon exploded, triggered by his words.

* * *

"What the fuck?!" Brandon screamed. He found himself sitting outside of a house… in Torigoth?

Gormotti citizens gave him strange glances as they passed by.

Brandon panted as he clutched his head. What the fuck was going on?

The door he was sitting in front of slammed open.

"Finally!" Nia exclaimed, "where were you? I was worried sick."

"... Nia?" Brandon whispered hoarsely as if the slightest movement would shatter the illusion in front of him.

"Well who else would it be buckethead?" she leaned down and slipped her hands into Brandon's who had gone limp with shock. She grabbed his hands and pulled him up to his feet, "jeez, you look like you've seen a ghost? What happened today at work?"

Brandon just stared. When Nia started to pull away he grabbed her hands firmly, feeling her warmth.

"Uh Brandon? You're acting weirder than usual."

She squeaked as he suddenly yanked her into a hug and held on tightly.

"I love you," he sobbed into her shoulder. He felt Nia's arms wrap around him, overlapping behind his back as she returned the hug.

"I love you too. Why don't we head inside, you can tell me what's wrong there."

She slowly let go to head back in but stopped when she noticed that Brandon still wasn't letting go. She sighed and used a little force to pull herself slightly out of his grip and reached up, pulling him into a kiss.

She pulled away after a moment with a little smirk, "you convinced that I'm real now?"

Brandon nodded as he slowly lowered his arms.

"Good, come on then," she turned around, "we should-" she paused as something caught her eye. A small brown box with a clear square of plastic on the top, a window to view the cake in the box.

She smiled, "you even remembered our anniversary!" She leaned down and picked up the box, "you really are the best."

* * *

"So tell me what's wrong," Nia said as she sat down, sliding a plate of food in front of Brandon and a setting down a plate for herself.

"I-I don't understand."

She snorted, "is that it? You're being this mopey because you can't figure something out at work. Oh you wittle baby."

Brandon shook his head, "that's not it. The last thing I remember is the world tree…"

The smile dropped from Nia's face.

"Oh honey, the World Tree was almost two years ago."

The fork clattered out of Brandon's hand.

"So you really don't remember? How did you make it back home?" she slapped herself, "I should have known something was wrong when you didn't show up to escort me back. I should have-"

"No no," Brandon waved his hands, "it's just that… all I remember was that at the church in New LA, I blacked out then, it was like my worst fears had come true. You, Rex, everyone had never existed. You were all figments of my imagination and I had lost to the Empire…"

"Ah, I remember," she gave him a reassuring smile, "we all had those kinds of visions, our worst fears playing out before our eyes. And not just regular old fears either, the kind that would break your mind."

She sighed, "I swear I'm going to make you quit your job though. I don't care how much you love it, if the chemicals and tech your working with all day gives you this kind of amnesia I don't want you anywhere near the stuff."

"So that… was all a vision… everything?"

"Yeah, bestowed unto us by the Architect to test our souls or some bullshit like an absolute arse. You going to eat anything? You haven't touched your food. And don't do that crap where you say my cooking is bad, I know you love it."

"I- the vision was so realistic. I thought that you had never existed…"

"Hmm," she stood up and leaned over the table to kiss him, "I went through something similar, as did everyone else."

Brandon paled even further, "what- where is everyone?"

"Right, I guess you wouldn't remember that either. Rex and Pyra moved in together. Tora moved back into his old home with his father and Poppi. The little pervert made Poppi a form with even bigger boobs."

Brandon cracked a small smile. Nia noticed and smiled along. "And Zeke? Pandoria? Morag? Brighid?"

"You'll never believe this, Zeke proposed to Pandoria."

Brandon's eyes bulged.

Nia laughed, "you had the exact same reaction the first time as well. Never thought that shellhead would actually do it but I guess everyone works up the courage eventually." She gave him an unsubtle stare.

"What?"

"Right… I guess I can't say anything in your current state. But you'd better hurry up, Rex has already asked Pyra out on a date."

"Heh, the little rascal has finally done it huh."

Brandon stood up.

"What's up?" Nia asked.

"Thirsty."

"Here, let me get you something."

"It's okay, I can do this."

"No really," she stood up, "it's no trouble."

"I can-"

"I-"

Brandon pulled her into a hug, "I just… It's just… I just got you back."

"I know, but I'm here now. I'm not going anywhere."

Brandon clenched her even tighter, until he heard a mechanical whirring around him. He looked up to see the house that he was in replaced by the World Tree. Nia looked up in confusion, the pair still in each other's arms.

"Wh-what's going on?"

"I wished, to examine the shapes of your hearts," a raspy voice echoed.

"I know that voice…" Brandon let go of Nia, "KLAUS YOU FUCKING BASTARD," he screamed in rage, "I thought that I had lost her," he fell to his knees, "I thought I lost her." Nia placed a hand on his back.

"Why would you do that to us? I thought that… You bastard."

"I wished to see how humanity has changed, and where it is headed."

"Is that it you sick fuck?"

The Architect, no truly Klaus in this situation, looked truly regretful, and so very human.

"I never wished this upon you, old frie-"

"Don't you even think about going there. You betrayed me just as everyone else had."

Nia linked her hand with his and Brandon gave it a quick squeeze in gratitude.

"I worked for the Empire yes," Klaus admitted, "but I very well could have been working for the Rebellion. Either way I was too engrossed in my research. I did respect you as we worked together. I was unaware of the Empire's plans. I truly believed that you had come to work with us to better humanity."

"I believed that as well," Brandon said softly, "I used to believe that. I thought that I had finally found a family."

"Despite my failures, I do believe you have found one."

"I have."

"And I do not think you are disappointed."

"With this crazy bunch? Never."

"Then I am satisfied. If one of the most cynical human beings I have ever met could find a group of people he loves, I do not believe that my lack of faith was justified."

"Your lack of faith? Sir?" Rex asked.

"I think Brandon has a good idea of what happened."

He nodded in confirmation.

"Good," Klaus said, "I have everything in the satellite system under my name. I believe you know how to access them?"

Another nod.

"If you need them, they will be there to fill in the blanks. You, the lone survivor of our world. You and Rex. You two created bonds that I had never thought possible. One born out of love, the other creating it. The conduit has begun stirring again, after so many millennia of stubborn silence. The power that you, Rex and Pneuma, or I suppose Pyra, wield is that of the conduit. It leaks out of some far flung universe and even after all these years, I do not understand it. I doubt that any human could ever hope to understand it. But… with it, the world is about to change once again. However, I do have reason to believe that it is tied to my life force. I fear that when my other half dies-"

Brandon flinched, having just noticed that Klaus' body was split in half.

He gave a tired sigh, "yes, a part of me is gone, lost to a different universe."

"A different universe?"

"Yes, and I do believe you understand the implications."

Brandon gulped, "infinite possibilities."

"And I fear that may come into play."

"What?"

"Never you mind, simply an old man rambling."

The tower rumbled.

"Ah, it appears Logos, or Malos as you know him, has started his attack… not sure why that was the name he instinctively knew. Brandon, you of all people must have realized there is nothing truly malicious behind his actions. At his core he is an information processing unit, a computer that was meant to analyze all the data of the core crystals. He is driven by the despair of Amalthus."

"So back then… it really was…" Rex mumbled.

"Rex, what is it you desire?"

"To stop Malos, what else?"

"And if you succeed?"

"I'll… I'll punch him in his stupid face… then I'll probably get a drink with him or something."

"Hm. And Pneuma, I guess I should call you Pyra and Mythra. I am sorry, sorry for burdening you with this, sorry for what you have been through and what I couldn't prevent."

"Actually, I'm grateful. It's thanks to you that I was able to meet," she looked back, "my family."

Klaus nodded. Pyra was enveloped in a bright light and was changed into her emerald form.

"I have transferred all of Elysium's memories to you. Make me proud."

She nodded and slowly backed up to join Rex.

"Klaus!"

"Hm."

"Have you… changed your mind about this world?"

"I don't regret meeting you all," he gave Brandon a meaningful look, "although, I don't think that I ever needed to change my mind."

Rex nodded, "then our answers match. I don't know about Brandon, but I forgive you. I thank you for everything."

Klaus smiled then made a shooing motion.

Rex glanced around, "Brandon, you know the way?"

"Yeah," he gave one last glance back, "Aion?"

"Aion," he agreed.

He turned around and walked out with the rest of the group. He paused right before he went through the doorway and glanced back, "you know what? If it weren't for you, I never would have met Nia. Hell she would never even have existed. So, thank you," he smirked and gave a lazy two finger salute, "say hello to Galea for me, old friend."

….

 **Damn I had fun writing this one. It did feel a bit rushed to me but I had to wrap up the vision portion decently quickly. I could explain away some of the time difference with time dilation that is possible in a simulation in the mind but not everything. Also I took no joy in writing his depression. It was fun coming up with a unique dream sequence that I don't think any other author has done. To be honest it was hard writing it because I had to write him on the brink of his mind breaking. Like if he wasn't in enemy territory he likely would have gone insane. Also I think I need to explain the end of the vision. Nia went through something very similar to Rex with all the people she failed to save, but what she saw at the end was very similar to Brandon so it wasn't hard for Klaus to put the two together at the end. Yeah also Ethan is actually dead, a soldier who was under Brandon's command and who's pod was shot out of the sky.**

 **3D printing human organs is an actual technology that's being developed now. It's part of the process to try to individualize health care. Using human DNA we can potentially print out human organs cell by cell to help people. Obviously it would be hella expensive and not practical for use yet but no doubt it would completely phase out the whole organ market within a hundred years with organs that are specifically designed for the human who needs them. IDK if we'll be able to do the same with hands but it's certainly a possibility and we will definitely have the tech to make prosthetic as good as the real thing.**

 **And yes I'm going to be using some Starcraft things because I'm not creative enough to come up with my own names, so sue me.**

 **I originally had a rant here about how certain parts of chapter 10 made no sense, specifically the flashback to the events just before the end of the world but that brought my A/N word count to almost 1k so if you want to hear it pm me but otherwise I'm getting rid of it.**


	30. Chapter 29: Final Battle

**Uhhhh, been a while huh? I've not been feeling fanfiction for a while but with the coronavirus canceling everything I had the time to just sit down and pound the rest of the chapter out. Almost 5 months without an update. Damn, I even missed the anniversary of this story. I meant to have it done by then but I missed it by almost 3 months. I have no intention of backing out of the rewrite as well. I do not plan on quitting writing, even if updates are slow. It's just that with my passion batteries running a little low, it's hard to keep on keeping on.**

 **Also I kept on getting distracted with other stories. I've got a chapter written out for multiple different stories, RE: Zero, GATE, My Hero Academia, Rising of the Shield Hero, Saga of Tanya the Evil, Another one for RWBY, etc. This is how you can tell I've been binge watching anime.**

 **I also don't like this chapter to be honest. It feels super clunky and bad and rushed even after spending months on this stupid chapter. This is even the last chapter so it's probably a bit of a let down. It's probably college and Starcraft because it seems like I get frustrated at the smallest thing now. I don't know. RL stuff is hard.**

… **.**

"You said you knew where this thing was!" Nia growled as the group ran into another dead end.

"I have a general idea of which hangar it's in…" Brandon said sheepishly.

"An idea?!" She angrily smacked the top of his head.

"Ow! Hey!" He exclaimed as he rubbed the afflicted area, "I have the location on my map! It's just hard to navigate an area I didn't even know existed."

She grumbled but conceded the point, "... sorry."

Brandon grinned and pulled her into a kiss. She rolled her eyes but happily accepted it.

"You know," she said, panting slightly as she broke away, "you can't just make out with me any time something goes slightly wrong."

"I'll work to prove you wrong," he said, a cheeky grin splitting his face.

"I don't think that's how it works," she rolled her eyes.

"I'll have you know that pausing for a second and having some form of physical contact with a loved one stops ninety nine percent of arguments and fights."

"Even se-"

"Technically," he interrupted, blushing furiously, "but that's a bit more situational. I was thinking more along the lines of linking hands or something."

"Isn't kissing a form of sexua-"

"You've never opposed it."

"No…" this time it was Nia's turn to blush.

Brandon chuckled, "love you."

Nia pouted.

"Nothing to say?"

"Hmph," she puffed her cheeks out.

"Ae goh! Neh aghee yah!"

"I don't know what that means but I feel like it's an insult."

"Aw, my little baby boo," he grinned.

She pouted, "I'm older than you are."

"Then act your age," he laughed.

She smiled, "believe it or not, my sister was more immature than I am."

"So you inherited her personality too, huh?"

Nia's smile turned sad, "yeah. I got her Gormotti snark as well. Her fieryness, her inability to give up."

Brandon's smile faded, "sorry."

"Don't be. I closed myself off to everyone but Dromarch-" she gave a genuine smile despite the tear sliding down her face, "but now… I have a family. I know where I belong. It hurts and nothing will change that. But I think they'd be happy for me."

"I think so too, wherever they are, they're definitely smiling for you."

She smiled back, "I love you."

Brandon leaned down and kissed the top of her head, "you know, I've never noticed how cute the ribbons make you look."

She flushed a deep red.

"Do you have to do that?"

"What? Compliment you?"

"..."

"So you want me to compliment you?"

Her face turned redder, "yes."

"Hah! At least you're honest about it."

"Jerk," she crossed her arms and turned her head away haughtily.

"Oh come on, don't be like that milady," he nudged her lightly.

"Hmph, save it for later, buckethead."

"Right right, of course."

"You're insufferable."

"Love you too."

"Hey you two idiots!" Rex called, "look out!"

Brandon grabbed Nia and jumped to the side, trusting Rex to not be joking.

A massive metal foot came crashing down onto the area where the pair had just been standing.

"Shit! Colossus! Everyone back up!"

"Aren't we able to fight this thing?" Rex asked, still backing up per Brandon's request.

He grimaced, "I don't know. They were put into combat near the end of the war so I've never seen their power. But if you would expand your tunnel vision."

"What? Oh…"

Behind the Colossus was the curved wall of the space station, lined with pod after pod of Colossi, and some were starting to light up.

"Everyone! Defensive formation. We don't have any armor piercing weapons or attacks so-"

Pyra lifted a hand and Tora hoisted his shield.

"I stand corrected, we have two armor piercing attacks, defend Rex, pyra, Tora, and Poppi," he said as his helmet clicked into place, "we need to kite that thing, open fire and move back slowly!"

"Right," Rex responded, "Pyra!"

She nodded and changed to Mythra and started blasting the Artifice with bolts of light.

"And fall back!" he cried as he heard the telltale whining of the gravity cannon charging up.

Rex cried out in surprise as the air where he had just been standing distorted and the gravity beam shredded everything in it's direct path.

"What the hell was that?"

"Gravity weapon, not as powerful as they can get but still strong."

"Missiles of Poppi having no effect either," Tora said.

"Figures, that thing was made to combat other Artifices. Mythra's light won't have any effect," he growled in frustration, "switch to Pyra, Poppi and Tora, fall back with me, the rest of you try to hold the thing off."

"Right."

"Tora, you have the blueprints of Poppi with you?" he asked while running through the halls.

"Yes!"

"Toss them here!"

"Right!" Tora fumbled around with his pouch and tossed Brandon a rolled up sheet of paper.

Brandon caught the tube and nodded, turning into a different hall and into a lab. "Get Poppi set up!"

"Right!"

Brandon gathered what resources he could find scattered through the lab.

"Poppi's set right?" he turned around.

"You… I swear to god Tora."

"Tora already had upgrade in mind."

"Yeah but did you have to let your inner pervert shine through?" He sighed, "whatever, what did you add to her?"

"Tora managed to complete light elemental core and new sword!"

"Toss me the sword."

Tora tossed him the new weapon.

"How did you piece this together so quickly?"

"Tora found spare parts in World Tree."

"So you put it together as you climbed?"

"Yes!"

"Damn. For something so hasty, it's put together damn well." He looked over it, turning it around in his hands to inspect it.

He immediately proceeded to take it apart.

"Here, I'm going to install some of my tech." He said before Tora could complain, "it's not much because I don't know enough about your tech to actually modify it properly without risking its integrity. Same thing with Poppi, but I need to install a specific weapon to take out the Artifice."

"And weapon is?"

"The weapon is essentially a big gun."

"That it? Tora was expecting more."

"There is more to it than that," he said, "it's a gauss rifle. A gun that fires projectiles that have been accelerated up to speed by electromagnets."

"Using magnetic force as propulsion mechanism? That pure genius! How did Tora never think of such a thing?"

"Well I didn't come up with it either. I just used knowledge built up by scientists during my time," he chuckled, "I like to talk big about how smart I am and how much I know about the world… but if I'm being honest, almost all of it is based on stuff we've already learned. I never actually made any major contributions to science or technology."

"But friend Brandon made artifice technology… did Brandon not?"

"Well I did… but if I didn't it was likely that someone else would have at some point anyways. All of my tech is built with other's technology. I'm basically a fraud because there's no one left to counter me." He sighed. He really was a fraud wasn't he.

"Tora not see it that way."

"Huh?"

"If this truly true, then why Dadapon be proud of Tora?"

"It's a parent's job?"

"Friend Brandon silly. It because Tora complete Poppi. Tora complete research of Grampypon and Dadapon. Tora did not do all of research because that impossible. Tora built upon research and technology that Dadapon and Grampypon already had. It not that Tora steal idea. Tora build and improve upon existing idea. That what make technology progress, yes?"

"Uh… yeah, I guess," he chuckled, "when you make it out to be so simple."

"Is that not how friend Brandon think?"

He sighed as he continued to adjust the weapon, "well I guess not. Most people seemed to look down upon taking other's ideas, whether you modified them or not. It seemed like you had to come up with something original or it didn't count."

"That so?"

"Yeah…" He shook his head, "ugh, what am I doing? We need to hurry, the others are fighting for their lives right now and here I am giving you a sob story."

"Best to not upset girlfriend, yes?"

Brandon laughed as he got on with the weapon, "yeah. Best to not upset Nia."

* * *

"What took you so long you moron?" Nia panted as she leaped back to join Brandon.

"Sorry milady, we were getting that," he gestured back to Tora and Poppi QTPI.

Nia glanced back only to facepalm. "He's made even bigger robot boobs."

"Yes."

"I swear."

"She's got the right weapon now though." He said, Poppi lifted her arm to punctuate.

"Open fire!"

"Roger!" She exclaimed as she fired the magnetically accelerated round, piercing through the robot at the point specified by Brandon earlier, penetrating the armor and slicing through the motherboard of the technological terror.

The group cheered as the mechanical beast froze up and the lights dimmed over its body.

"Poppi, you know what to do," Brandon gestured.

"Poppi got it!" She aimed the railgun at the other mechs and took them out with precision shots.

Brandon flinched with each shot. Nia put a hand on his shoulder, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, sorry. Just… memories of the war."

Nia nodded, "it's weird, hearing that from someone under twenty."

"You're probably going to hear a lot of it once we get done with this," he flicked his head over, "Come on, Aion is just over that way."

* * *

"Just in time for the final act, boy! I've saved you the best seats in the house!" Malos exclaimed and turned around at the sound of the hangar doors sliding open.

"Hah," he chuckled to himself, "I sounded just like Akhos there for a moment."

"Akhos is dead you bastard," Nia hissed in anger, "and so is everyone else in Torna."

"Figured as much," Malos shrugged.

"Is that it?" Nia stepped forward but stopped when Brandon put a hand on her shoulder.

"What?" Malos mocked, "you want me to weep and deliver a eulogy? They all desired oblivion and now, they've achieved it. The least I can do is send them off with a smile."

"Is this what you want Malos?" Rex stepped forward.

"Huh?"

"Is this what _you_ want?"

"I don't understand the question."

"You have to understand by now, that none of this is your own will. All of this is the will of Amalthus, not your own!"

"And so what if it is?" Malos said, "doesn't much matter to me."

"And you'd just accept that?"

"What?" He laughed, "were you going to give me some weak ass crap about repenting?"

"You son of a-" This time it was Nia who had to hold Brandon back. "Why do you refuse to listen? We can end the violence and bloodshed."

"Why? Because I don't give a rat's ass about what you think. The cycle of life that the Architect created? So you're a product of Morytha? Who really cares? But that man… he had lost everything. He no longer wanted anything. He didn't even want to live anymore. And yet… his life was the only thing he couldn't lose," he paused, "words can be a curse. A curse that kept him tied down. A wretched tale, isn't it? This whole world is a wretched place."

"And you're part of that world," Brandon said, having pieced together that Malos was talking about Jin rather than Amalthus, "he would have lived a much different life if not for you."

"Figured it out huh? I guess you Morythans are a different breed. I'm a wretched being too, a hideous monster, far beyond saving! So… let's end this now."

"Malos!" Pyra cried, "don't you feel anything? Father's sadness, the world he wished for…"

"How could I?" he asked softly, purple light surrounding him, "that's not… my role in this world."

"Malos!" Brandon roared as he heard the hydraulics of the massive machine whirring in front of him.

Malos took no heed of Brandon as he ascended into the cockpit of the Artifice.

"Come at me kid!" he roared, "come at me partner! Give me all you've got… Show me the extent of your will! Show me why you're here in this world!"

"Shit," Brandon exclaimed, "everyone! Out of the way!"

Aion fired plasma beams, strong enough to burn through even the thick metal of Rhadamanthus. Brandon lunged and pulled Nia out of harm's way with him.

"What the hell?" Nia cried.

"That thing," Brandon panted, "is the end all weapon. It never entered into combat, but it was theoretically capable of outputting the energy of a small thermonuclear bomb while its armor could absorb even railgun fire from a battlecruiser from point blank range."

"How are we supposed to fight that thing then?" Nia asked, "isn't that weapon you gave Poppi a railgun? That was essentially the only thing that could pierce the armor of-"

Brandon turned and activated his shield, sheltering Nia from a glancing plasma beam.

"I know, but I'm going to trust Rex and Pyra with this," he conceded, "there isn't anything more I can do without heavier weaponry. The most we can do is make sure they remain standing on their feet and keep Malos at least slightly distracted."

Nia nodded.

"Shit! Move!" Brandon pushed Nia out of the way and scrambled backwards.

He opened fire at the Artifice, hoping to at least ding up the armor a little but to no avail. Any electric, plasma, or even gauss rounds that connected did little but scratch the paint job. The only real damage was being done by Rex and Pyra, though Poppi's more powerful railgun, Zeke and Pandoria, and Morag and Brighid were able to at least draw Malos' attention.

"Fuck," Brandon cursed as a stray laser scraped past his side, cutting through his armor and, by extension, his proesthetic arm. He scrambled to tear the arm off before the metal conducted the heat to his body.

"Are you alright?" Nia ran up to Brandon with concern written on her face.

"I'm fine," Brandon waved his hand, "don't worry about me."

"I can't _help_ but worry," she grabbed his hand with both of hers.

Brandon smiled, "I love you, but you should worry about our friends who don't have arms to lose."

"Well I wouldn't be this concerned for your wellbeing if you cared more about it," she harrumphed, giving his stump a pointed glare.

"I already said sorry for that. I was careless and didn't think too much of it," he sighed before pointing at Zeke, "looks like they need some help there."

Nia glared at him a moment longer, "fine, but we're continuing this discussion later."

Brandon smiled before shooing her away. His smile dropped the moment she turned around and morphed into visible frustration. He was completely useless right now. None of his weaponry or technology could dent or hamper the massive war mech. He was at least able to damage the members of Torna before, but his power never really scaled up like any of his friends' had. His human physical strength was limited compared to a driver or blade and his technology, while gaining slight upgrades, didn't prepare him for this.

He considered his options then swore as he decided to take cover outside of the hangar. The only thing he was doing now was getting in the way of his friends. He wasn't even important enough for Malos to take more than the occasional potshot at him so he couldn't even serve as a distraction.

He needed to figure out how to contribute without getting in the way.

Wait… why hadn't he considered this before? He could take over the systems of the World Tree! He may not be able to hack Aion with it currently being in manual override, but he could take control over the automated troops that weren't currently active.

Yeah, yeah! That was it! Even if they were only about equivalent to him, quantity had a quality of its own. Especially when that quantity was legions of mechanical soldiers with massive firepower output.

It was a simple process working around the firewall of the station. Without anyone left to counter hack him, it was relatively easy.

And… there! The whirring of hundreds, if not thousands, of metal soldiers sounded through even thick metal floors and walls, echoing from a hangar in the distance.

Immediately a plasma beam cut through the wall. Brandon ducked and weaved past the superheated gas.

Looks like that grabbed his attention. He smirked, the more weapons focused on him, the fewer will be trained on his friends.

He kept on moving backwards, kiting the plasma and lasers out and buying time for the automated marine corps to make it to the battlefield. He dodged one last blast before turning tail and running.

He ran until he could hear the sound of metal clanging on metal. The marines had arrived, marching in rows of two. He pulled one to the side to deactivate it's automation and jump in, abandoning his pretty much makeshift gear. He hooked his metal stump up to the arm of the marine armor.

The marines filed into the hangar. Malos seemed to almost panic, firing beams of plasma wildly at the mechanical troops, reducing dozens into little more than molten slag, but for every marine killed, five more took their place. Every marine opened fire, aiming at the joints and other less armored points with Brandon directing them.

The others stopped to stare.

"What are you waiting for?" Brandon yelled, "figure something out!"

"Right!" Rex called.

Brandon kept on firing, dodging plasma beams as best as he could. He may not be able to do any form of real damage but he could at least distract.

Or… kind of. After Malos discovered that Gauss rounds weren't that effective against ballistic armor, he started ignoring him again and redoubled his efforts on Rex as he and Pyra had started charging up.

"Malos!" Rex yelled, "can you still not see? Stop the Artifice!"

"See what brat?!" Malos' voice echoed out through a set of hidden speakers, "the world's never going to change if that's all you've got!"

"It will change!" Rex yelled, slashing at different sections of Aion, "I will change it! That's the reason, we've come all this way!"

"Gah! Who do you think you're doing this for?"

"I'm doing it, for myself," he said, "if it helps put smiles on people's faces, if it helps them live their lives together, then that's my role in this world!"

He blasted Aion, stunning it and forcing it back.

"Jin asked me to take care of you, in his place, you know. He never wanted to die, he just wanted to connect with you! He did it because you showed him a path!"

"And how many people died because of it? You'd forgive him, just like that?!"

"Forgiving isn't that easy, but that's just the world we live in. We need to find a way forward within that world. Even you used to think like that once."

Malos didn't respond, choosing instead to try to finish Rex off.

He dodged, and with a bounding leap with Pyra, lifted his sword and a beam of energy pierced the ceiling and struck the Third Sword. The sword lit up, expanding as new beams of energy shown through.

"Let's do this!" Rex cried.

"For the future!" Pyra agreed.

The two let out a battle cry as they brought the sword down. Malos moved Aion's arm to intercept but to no avail as the sword sliced through the reinforced armor and into the core of the technological terror.

The machine immediately fell to its knees and spat Malos out.

He groaned in pain and turned himself over.

Brandon ordered his autonomous army to ceasefire and retracted his visor as he rejoined his friends. Malos was clearly on his deathbed, his shattered core crystal barely flickering with light.

Despite this Malos smirked, "it's been fun, kid."

"Malos…" Rex didn't know what to say.

"If only I'd met you sooner. Just think of the worlds I could have seen. But even so… there was only one driver for me…" he struggled to breath, "all in all… it wasn't so bad."

Malos took his last breath as his body disintegrated into black particles.

Brandon felt a tap on his armor and looked to the side to see Nia wrapped around an arm. He disengages the armor and steps out, gripping her hand in his own.

"Bastard found his meaning in life," Brandon commented, "not many are so lucky."

An explosion tore through the complex, cutting his thought off short.

"What the hell was that?" Rex exclaimed.

Pyra brought up a holographic interface in response. "No…"

"What is it?" Brandon asked, his arms wrapped around Nia.

"The Conduit… it's gone."

Brandon swore, "but that was the thing holding the facility together. Without it, there's no power to vital functions."

Pyra nodded, "at this rate, all of Elysium will collapse, destroying Alrest."

"Damn it to hell," Brandon grimaced, "what's the plan."

Pyra was silent.

"Pyra please!" Rex pleaded, "there has to be a way to stop it!"

She didn't say anything but Brandon noticed a glint in her eye, the way her jaw set.

"There's only one way to stop it," she took a deep breath, "five stories down from here, there's a control room for the correctional boosters. If we can make it there and accelerate the World Tree beyond the escape velocity, we can stop the World Tree's collapse."

"Okay, let's go, quickly."

"Right," Brandon said, "come on, no time to lose!"

The group sprinted out the direction they came.

"Brandon! Poppi! Azurda!" A voice beckoned the three back.

Brandon skid to a halt, nodded to Nia, then ran back in.

"Pyra… what is it?" Brandon asked, concern written all over his face.

"You know, the correctional boosters broke off… right?"

Brandon stared for a minute before throwing out as many profanities he knew. Pyra took it in stride.

"There is only one option, I need to guide Aion and self destruct to annihilate the rest of the World Tree," she looked like she was about to cry, "and I need you to not let Rex try to stop me."

"Wha-" He couldn't believe what he was being asked, "I…"

She put on a brave smile, "we're friends, aren't we? It's either just me, or all of Alrest."

"P-poppi could not possibly-"

Pyra raised a hand, "you promised, didn't you?"

Poppi looked at the ground, "that below belt."

"Please."

Poppi whimpered but nodded.

Pyra then turned to Gramps and touched his core crystal.

"You're a real piece of work…"

Brandon looked furious, unable to do anything, feeling more helpless than before. Without saying anything else, he sprinted out as fast as he could, tears running down his face.

He caught up, along with Poppi, Gramps, and Pyra, his friends having slowed down slightly to allow them to catch up on the stairs.

They finally made it five floors down and booked it across the bridge. Brandon went first, typing away furiously at the control panel and the doors slid open. They ran through, only to stop as soon as they noticed that it wasn't a control room.

"Ships?" Morag took a hesitant step forward, "is this a dock?"

Rex looked confused for a moment before realization struck him like a truck and he ran back out.

Pyra stood on the other side of the bridge.

"Pyra!" Rex exclaimed in disbelief, "what are you doing over there? Where's the control room?"

She wore a rueful smile on her face as she gazed over longingly.

"I'm sorry!" She waved a hand and destroyed the bridge, cutting them off.

"I've never lied to you before," she looked guilt ridden, "but the only option is to use the Last of Aion's power to destroy the World Tree." Her voice was wavering, close to breaking, "I'm sorry, it's the only way, you all need to use one of the vessels to escape, and get as far away as possible."

"Pyra… It'll… it'll be alright… right?" he said, gripping at straws, "you'll deal with the World Tree, then you'll come back, right?!"

The hopeful smile on Rex's face disappeared and his heart sank when Pyra said nothing in return.

"No… no… no… wait! Just wait! I'll come with you!" He took a few steps forward and fired his anchor. It fell short and a metallic clang was heard from below.

"Dammit, there's not enough wire!" He drew the grappling hook back, "I've got it! Poppi!" he turned around only to freeze at Poppi's expression. "Poppi?..."

"It not okay. Poppi can not."

"What do you mean you can't?"

"Poppi made promise. Pyra say that Rex for sure ask Poppi," she sniffled, "say not help Rex, no matter what."

"What kind of promise is that?" Rex shouted, "please!" he cried in desperation and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her, "I'm begging you, all you've got to do is take me over there!"

Brandon took a step forward, "Rex…"

"Please," Rex begged, his voice growing fainter, "she's right there…"

Poppi was bawling at this point, silent tears of whatever material Tora put in her running down her face.

Brandon put a hand on his shoulder, "Rex, let her go." he said firmly.

"Brandon! Please, you can take me over!" he exclaimed whirling around.

Brandon grimaced but shook his head, "I can't."

Rex's expression changed from desperation to anger as a fist collided with Brandon's face. Painful, but not fully unexpected. Brandon staggered back, it had hurt more than expected even after bracing himself, Rex's strength as a Driver showing itself in full force.

"Why?" he fell to his knees.

"Rex… there's no other options. She's the one you love. You've been by your side and protected her. Let her do something to protect the one she loves in turn."

Rex slammed a fist into the floor but slowly got to his feet. He turned around,"Pyra…" he whispered.

"Rex!" Pyra called as if to answer. She touched her core crystal. The core crystal fragment on Rex's chest shined and popped out, falling to the floor and the armor on Rex dissipated, only leaving his old salvager suit behind.

"You'll be fine... Without me now!"

Another explosion shook the facility.

"Pyra!" Rex sobbed. Debris from the space station fell, obstructing their view. When it cleared, Pyra was nowhere to be seen. Rex knelt to pick up the fallen core crystal.

Rex turned back around and nodded, a new determination in his eyes. He led the group back into the hangar.

"Check the doors!" Brandon ordered, "hit the big button in the center of the control panel!"

They split up, desperately searching for a still functioning ship.

Brandon found one near the end, "over here!" he exclaimed and entered the ship. He ran into the cockpit, throwing himself into a seat and slamming down the controls to prep for takeoff. He turned his head, and hit the launch sequence the moment everyone boarded and sealed the door.

Brandon struggled with the controls to keep the ship in the sky, with no copilot and an ancient spacecraft, it was nearly impossible. The ship shook even harder as the entire World Tree exploded behind them.

"Pyra," Rex clutched her Core Crystal to his chest.

"Everyone! Brace yourselves!" Brandon yelled as the ship crumbled beneath their feet, flinging them out into open atmosphere. Everyone screamed in shock and fear as they started plummeting down to Earth.

Each pair instinctively grabbed onto the one they were closest to.

Brandon closed his eyes, bracing for death.

Until, "REX!" a voice shouted through the deafening wind as Gramps lit up and started transforming, until he stood tall as a massive titan once more.

He swooped down, allowing everyone to make their way over and grab on. He leveled his decent gradually, allowing everyone to stabilize.

Gramps chuckled, "you know, I think this form really does suit me best."

The cloud sea started fading.

"The titans are… gone." Rex said.

"Where are they?" Nia muttered, "is everyone dead?"

"So…" Zeke said, "there's nothing left but ruins?"

"Hold on!" Gramps said, "we're crossing that rift."

A bright light engulfed them. The group started blinking once it cleared up. Brandon's jaw dropped at the sight of a massive landmass ahead of them.

"Look!" Nia's voice exclaimed.

Everyone looked in the direction she pointed to see the titans in the distance slowly landing in the ocean and joining up with the landmass.

"I think…" Morag said, "I understand what Klaus meant by restoring the world."

"So Elysium was here… all along," Rex breathed.

"You know Rex," Gramps said, "I think you're right."

Rex pulled Pyra's core to his chest, "you hear that Pyra? We're finally here."

….

 **Thank you to everyone who's stuck with me through this journey. For those of you who actually care, it's not actually quite over yet. A full rewrite is currently in progress as well as some… alterations to plot and lore. (Also sequels are planned, as well as maybe a prequel.)**

 **The reason why I'm going to be changing a lot more than I initially thought I would is because I'm a fucking dumbass. I went and learned a bunch of the lore and Jesus there was a lot that I was making up that is actually explained or is canon in the lore. For example: the Artifices were developed and mass produced as weapons created by the Trinity Processor, which is the organic AI created by the Aegis collective. Ontos, Logos, and Pneuma were raised in virtual reality in order to develop personalities required to control the Conduit, which is a perpetual motion machine, which is why everything connected to it bends the laws of physics, or at least our understanding of physics. Also apparently the Conduit (aka the Gate in the direct translation) is confirmed to be the Zohar as it is named the Zohar in the game files. The Artifices were developed as a defense mechanism by the Trinity Processor, which is why the Aegises are able to control them.**

 **And as the name implies, it is a gate that connects multiple universes. (It says dimensions but as a physicist, I'm going to say universes because that's probably what they actually meant).**

 **This was a project put together by Aoidos, an organization founded to study the Conduit. Aoidos was founded by the Collective World Government, directly translated as the Coalition, the same world government found in Xenoblade X. Also the United States either took over the world or had a big presence in the new world government, so I had that correct at least. The thing is with a lot of this lore, it does make some interesting connections so I'm super excited to see what Monolith does in the future. (Stuff like how the Conduit and the Zohar origins are identical, stuff like how Artifices are literally Gears, etc.)**

 **But this info dump on me means, either rewrite the story with my lore, or with the game's lore. Either way would mean massive alterations as I try to make the thing better.**

 **Either way, Brandon is going to have a lot less of a hand, as in none at all, in building the Artifices. The next time around, I'm probably going to give him more of an Oppenheimer feel. Probably going to make him a physicist and engineer (still) but he had a hand in developing other weapons and not the Artifices. Also I'm intending on keeping some of the stuff I made up like how the government was authoritarian and created a dystopian society, leading to the creation of a rebellion that saw a great many things done by the Coalition to be wrong. I will change the stupid "Solar Empire" thing I made up to the Coalition.**

 **I would like some thoughts and/or opinions on this. Also I would like it if you guys told me whether you would like me to put the revised version up as a completely new story and just leave this one up, or if I should replace the entire thing. This shouldn't break ToS because technically the rewrite would be an entirely different story, just one with the same characters.**


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